Does iThenticate Check AI Rate? What You Need to Know

Yes, iThenticate can check for AI writing, but only if the institution has licensed the AI writing detection add-on. Turnitin's FAQ states: "AI writing detection is only be available to customers that license Turnitin Originality." And for iThenticate specifically: "iThenticate 2.0 customers can get access to this feature if they license AI writing capabilities as an add-on." This means that not every iThenticate installation includes AI detection. If your target journal has not licensed the add-on, your submission will only receive a similarity report, not an AI writing report. You cannot tell from the outside whether a specific journal has the AI detection capability enabled.

iThenticate is the similarity checking tool used by academic publishers, journals, and research institutions. It is part of the same company as Turnitin, and it shares the same underlying comparison database. But the similarity report and the AI writing report are separate features. Turnitin's FAQ states: "The Similarity score and the AI writing detection percentage are completely independent and do not influence each other." This means a journal can run an iThenticate similarity check on your manuscript without running an AI writing check. The two analyses are separate processes that produce separate scores.

The FAQ is specific about the licensing model:

"AI writing detection is only be available to customers that license Turnitin Originality."

For iThenticate:

"iThenticate 2.0 customers can get access to this feature if they license AI writing capabilities as an add-on."

The next sentence: "If you are a Turnitin Similarity, Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS) or Originality Check customer, please speak to your Turnitin account manager regarding access to AI writing detection."

The key word is "add-on." AI writing detection is not included by default in every iThenticate license. It is a separate capability that the institution must purchase. This means some journals can check your manuscript for AI writing and some cannot. The similarity report you receive does not tell you whether an AI check was also performed, because the two scores are independent. Which product has AI detection sets the whole Turnitin lineup side by side.

The AI detection feature has the same file and language requirements on iThenticate as on Turnitin, and the language list changed on 18 August 2026. Turnitin's release notes for that date announce "New AI detection writing detection capabilities for Modern Standard Arabic submissions", and the product updates page says the Arabic detector "will also be available to iThenticate 2.0 customers who currently license AI writing detection and have it enabled on their accounts". So the supported languages are English, Spanish, Japanese, and, since 18 August 2026, Modern Standard Arabic. Expect to see only three of them on some vendor pages: read on 22 August 2026, the AI Writing Report guide still says "File must be written in a supported language: English, Spanish, Japanese", and the file requirements page carries the same line. Neither page has been revised for Arabic yet. Accepted file types are .docx, .pdf, .txt, and .rtf, and for anything outside the four languages the product updates page is explicit: "If a paper in an unsupported language is submitted, our model will not process the paper for AI writing detection." Whether Turnitin can detect AI in non-English submissions covers what that leaves you with.

The same access rules apply. Only instructors and administrators can see the AI writing indicator. For iThenticate, this means the journal editors and reviewers who have access to the tool can see any AI writing score, but you as the author typically cannot. The FAQ notes that "with the PDF download feature, instructors can download and share the AI report with students." In a journal submission context, the equivalent would be a journal editor choosing to share the AI report with you, which is uncommon. What the journal side actually does is in do journals check papers for AI writing.

To summarize what we have covered:

• iThenticate can check for AI writing, but only if the institution has licensed the AI writing detection add-on.
• The similarity score and the AI writing score are completely independent measurements.
• Not every journal has AI detection enabled on its iThenticate account.
• You cannot see your own AI score as an author. Only editors and administrators can.
• AI detection supports English, Spanish, Japanese, and, since 18 August 2026, Modern Standard Arabic, in .docx, .pdf, .txt, or .rtf format. Two vendor pages still list three because they have not been updated.

If you have an iThenticate AI report and want to work on the flagged passages, import the report and address them directly. Eligible passages can be re-run at no charge.