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Boston Study Allows 50% AI Text, Finds Low Original Use

6/15/2026

Summary

Story summary

Sarah Madsen Hardy of Boston University led a study allowing up to 50 percent machine-generated text in writing courses.
Participants received ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and had to highlight AI-generated passages in blue.
From 34 chat logs covering 290 prompts, only 18.6 percent asked for original text, while most prompts supported brainstorming, research, or revision.
Authors warned that, because roughly a quarter were English-as-a-foreign-language learners, voluntary participation and self-highlighting may limit the study’s representativeness.

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Story summary

Sarah Madsen Hardy of Boston University led a study allowing up to 50 percent machine-generated text in writing courses.
Participants received ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and had to highlight AI-generated passages in blue.
From 34 chat logs covering 290 prompts, only 18.6 percent asked for original text, while most prompts supported brainstorming, research, or revision.
Authors warned that, because roughly a quarter were English-as-a-foreign-language learners, voluntary participation and self-highlighting may limit the study’s representativeness.