Turnitin adds AI controls for classroom assignments

Turnitin has added customisable AI settings to its Turnitin Clarity tool, giving educators more control over how AI is used in classroom assignments.

The new settings let instructors define the role of the built-in AI assistant for each task. Teachers can enable uses such as brainstorming, outlining, light proofreading, or support with structural and sentence-level revisions.

Turnitin has also introduced three response levels for the AI assistant: Foundational, Standard and Advanced. These are intended to help teachers tailor AI feedback to different student groups, from secondary education to postgraduate study, and across subject areas.

A preview feature lets educators see sample interactions before applying settings to an assignment. This is intended to help teachers check whether the AI outputs match their teaching aims and any institutional rules on AI use.

The update reflects growing pressure on education providers to define where AI can support student work and where limits should apply. Schools, universities and colleges have been trying to balance AI tools with concerns about originality, academic standards and the risk of students relying too heavily on automated feedback.

Turnitin is positioning the new controls as a way to set clearer boundaries rather than apply a single standard across every class. By allowing settings at assignment level, it is addressing one of the more practical challenges institutions face as they develop policies for generative AI in teaching and assessment.

Annie Chechitelli outlined the rationale for the changes.

"Educators shaped these enhancements, just like they helped us build Turnitin Clarity," said Annie Chechitelli, chief product officer at Turnitin.

She said the company had heard differing expectations across the education sector.

"I hear from high school teachers who want more simplistic AI-driven feedback and graduate faculty who want more sophisticated responses. Now, we can accommodate both-and those in between. The tool is designed to serve as an effective and appropriate part of the learning process, aligning with both grade-level requirements and institutional academic standards," Chechitelli said.

Process visibility

Turnitin Clarity is part of the company's broader effort to focus on the writing process rather than only the final submission. The product tracks how a piece of work develops, including how students use AI feedback as they draft and revise.

This approach is meant to give teachers a clearer record of student development and a better sense of where AI input has influenced the final result. Turnitin argues that this can help educators distinguish between supported learning and inappropriate dependence on AI-generated material.

The latest changes suggest Turnitin sees configuration and oversight as central to that model. Rather than removing AI from the workflow, the tool is presented as something educators can frame and limit according to context, level and assessment design.

That may matter for institutions because AI policy is often uneven across departments and courses. A science department may want students to use AI support in early drafting, while a humanities course may allow only limited proofreading assistance. Assignment-level controls give teaching staff a way to reflect those differences without relying on broad institution-wide defaults.

Education market

Turnitin works with more than 16,000 customers across 185 countries and territories. The company has been active in academic integrity and assessment for more than 25 years, and has increasingly shifted its messaging as generative AI has become part of mainstream classroom practice.

That shift mirrors a broader change across the education technology market. Early reactions to generative AI centred on detection and prevention, but suppliers are now also developing tools to structure acceptable use. For schools and universities, the issue is no longer simply whether students have access to AI, but how that use is documented, limited and aligned with learning outcomes.

Turnitin's latest product update sits squarely in that debate, offering educators a more detailed way to shape AI interactions while keeping the writing process visible. The settings are designed to help students engage critically with AI feedback rather than simply act on it.