Dartmouth Provost's Op-eds Flagged 96% AI-Written by Detector With 'Near-Zero Error' Audit
paulnovosad · x · 2026-09-21
A Dartmouth investigation found Provost Santiago Schnell's 2026 academic articles and op-eds scored a median 96% "AI-written" on Pangram 4.0 — the same detector that flagged his Washington Post column (arguing degrees should distinguish independent work from AI-assisted work) as 100% AI-written in a Semafor probe.
Key facts:
- Pangram's "near-zero error rate" comes from an October 2025 University of Chicago audit; it uses an LLM trained to separate human vs AI text
- Schnell says he used AI to "make writing processes more efficient" but not as a "substitute for intellectual judgment or authorship"
- The student paper reviewed his publications before and after ChatGPT's November 2022 release
- Poster paulnovosad praises the reporting for covering all bases amid widespread misinformation about AI use and detection
The episode spotlights the irony of an anti-AI-cheating advocate's own writing being flagged, and the contested reliability of AI detectors.
Related event: Dartmouth Provost's Articles Flagged as Largely AI-Written(4 posts)→
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