NEWS14 October 2026A tool called IdeaLens helps to judge whether concepts — rather than just writing — in scientific papers are AI-generated.ByElizabeth GibneyElizabeth GibneyView author publicationsSearch author on: PubMed Google ScholarView saved researchCredit: EvgeniyShkolenko/GettyResearchers have developed a detector that aims to tell the difference between ideas made by humans and those conjured by artificial intelligence.Used with care, IdeaLens could help to gauge the extent of AI use in submissions to conferences and journals, which have become “overwhelmed” with artificially generated content, says Rishanth Rajendhran, a computer scientist at the University of Maryland in College Park and co-author of the preprint1 describing IdeaLens.Using AI to write scientific papers is becoming increasingly acceptable, but only “as long as the core idea” is the researcher’s own, he says.Is it OK for AI to write science papers? Nature survey shows researchers are splitThe detector works by analysing the ‘outline’ of a work rather than the text itself. First, it distils a text — for example, a scientific paper — into an outline, stripping it of style. Then it looks for patterns that are characteristic of either AI- or human-generated ideas, such as those in arguments and flow.The detector was able to spot AI-derived ideas 91% of the time. It “surprised me that they can detect AI-written arguments” from just the outlines, says Nikhil Garg, a computer scientist at Cornell Tech in New York City, who calls the detector impressive.Garg cautions that because the tool is fallible, it should not be used to judge the human authenticity of individual cases, and that the detector might become inaccurate when used on types of data that are different from those used in training. “An AI ‘tell’ in one domain may simply be good human writing in another,” he says.Structural differencesThe group’s earlier work2 found that human-written stories differ structurally from those written by AI and that different chatbots tend to use the same arguments when writing essays. Together this suggested that it might be possible to make a detector for AI ideas, says Rajendhran.doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-03247-0ReferencesRajendhran, R. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.06778 (2026).Russell, J. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.03136 (2026).Download referencesRelated Articles Can AI ever be conscious? The question stems from a misconception AI tool detects LLM-generated text in research papers and peer reviews Scientists hide messages in papers to game AI peer review Can AI review the scientific literature — and figure out what it all means? AI consciousness: scientists say we urgently need answers Consciousness research is having an AI moment. Will the hype help the field?SubjectsMachine learningComputer scienceScientific communityLatest on:Machine learningComputer scienceScientific communityJobs Call for Researchers and ExpertsF-REI seeks Researchers, Senior Researchers, Experts, and Senior Experts to advance innovative R&D, foster innovation, and support Fukushima's future.Japan (JP)Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation (F-REI)Associate or Senior Editor – Scientific ReportsAssociate or Senior Editor – Scientific Reports Organisation: Nature Portfolio Location: London, UK Application Deadline: 29th October 2026 About...London (Greater) (GB)Springer Nature LtdOpen Rank Faculty Position in Science - School of Science and EngineeringThe School of Science and Engineering (SSE) at theCUHK-Shenzhen sincerely invites applications for Tenure/Teaching/Research Stream faculty positionsShenzhen, ChinaThe Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen - School of Science and EngineeringOpen Rank Faculty Position in Engineering - School of Science and EngineeringThe School of Science and Engineering (SSE) at theCUHK-Shenzhen sincerely invites applications for Tenure/Teaching/Research Stream faculty positionsShenzhen, ChinaThe Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen - School of Science and Engineering