As we all know it Winston AI is one of those detectors that aims to identify content generated by ChatGPT. But does it actually do a good job at catching AI-written text? The short answer is YES. The longer answer is the devil lies in the details. Keep reading to know more about it.
Why Winston AI detects ChatGPT?
The simple answer is Winston AI has been developed primarily for this purpose of telling apart AI and human-generated text. However, it is not designed to be perfect. You can see from their scores that it still makes mistakes - both missing AI texts and falsely flagging human texts as AI. Hence, if it is not made to accomplish perfect detection, it obviously won’t be able to do it. If you want a reliable solution and you can spend some money, I would urge you to try our tool deceptioner.
The Stats You Need to Know
Let’s dive right into the performance metrics for Winston AI. Below is the confusion-matrix-based data that we gathered by testing Winston AI on samples of ChatGPT text and human text:
| Metric | Score |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | 0.688 |
| AI Precision | 0.711 |
| AI Recall | 0.659 |
| AI F1 | 0.684 |
| Human Precision | 0.667 |
| Human Recall | 0.718 |
Overall, the accuracy (~69%) suggests that about one-third of the texts were mis-classified. This is definitely not something you can rely on blindly if the stakes are high.
- Missed AI detections (false-negatives): 28 out of 82 ChatGPT texts (~34%) were incorrectly labelled “Human.”
- False alarms (false-positives): 22 out of 78 human texts (~28%) were flagged as “AI.”
The short explanation of these metrics:
- Precision = Out of all texts flagged as AI, how many are actually AI? Winston AI’s AI Precision is 71%, meaning when it says your text is AI, it is right 71% of the time.
- Recall = Out of all real AI (ChatGPT) texts, how many did it actually catch? Winston AI’s AI Recall is 66%, so it is missing 34% of AI texts.
- F1 score = Balances precision and recall. Here, Winston AI’s AI F1 is 0.684, indicating moderate performance.
Below is a short table summarizing some key detection components, somewhat akin to how many other detectors handle text:
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Natural Language Processing (NLP) | Winston AI utilizes NLP algorithms to analyze linguistic patterns in text, but it isn't foolproof yet. |
| Stylometric Analysis | Examines style metrics like vocabulary usage & sentence complexity, to spot potential AI writing. |
| Machine Learning Models | Trained on large datasets of AI and human texts, though about 1/3 mis-classifications occurred in our sample. |
| Data Patterns & Anomalies | Checks for repetitive structures or unusual phrasing that might indicate AI origin. |
Which AI Detector is Better at This Task?
Winston AI is not the only AI detector out there. There are plenty of them like GPTZero, Turnitin’s AI detection, ZeroGPT, etc. The difference is Winston AI doesn’t claim to be bulletproof. It is moderately good but has a symmetrical bias - meaning it has similar error rates when dealing with both AI and human content. This means it doesn’t heavily lean on labeling everything as AI or everything as human, but it still isn’t a reliable production-grade solution.
Why Winston AI Might Miss ChatGPT?
Accuracy hovers around 69% because there are more nuances in human writing than Winston AI is trained to handle. Moreover, ChatGPT can produce text with varied sentence structures and sometimes even grammar mistakes that might confuse Winston AI. This is especially true if you tweak the text to reduce your “AI footstep.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Does Winston AI catch ChatGPT?
Yes, Winston AI will detect ChatGPT sometimes. However, it missed about 34% of the ChatGPT texts in our test sample, so it’s not 100% guaranteed.
Q2. Is Winston AI’s detection definitive proof of AI writing?
No, it is not. Because Winston AI also falsely flagged about 28% of human texts as AI. Treat it only as a heuristic indicator.
Q3. How reliable is Winston AI’s precision and recall for AI texts?
Winston AI’s AI Precision is 0.711, and AI Recall is 0.659. This implies that out of the texts it flags as AI, roughly 71% are actually AI, and among all AI texts, it only detects about 66% of them.
Q4. Does Winston AI have a bias?
Not a large one. Its false-positive and false-negative rates are somewhat symmetrical, meaning it doesn’t heavily target one category more than the other.
Q5. Should I rely solely on Winston AI for plagiarism or grading decisions?
No, not at all. Because Winston AI is prone to mis-classifications, especially if the consequences for mislabeling are serious. You should always do a manual review or compare results with a second AI detector if you want to be sure.
The Bottom Line
Winston AI is a fantastic tool for casually checking if your text was generated by ChatGPT, but it is not well-suited for high-stakes use cases. Since it misses one in three AI texts and flags about one in four human texts as AI, the risk of error is significant. You need to either rely on your own understanding or use multiple detectors to get a more accurate result. Like we always say—use Winston AI with caution & treat its output as a clue, not as gospel truth.
