UnTXT and the University of Cambridge's AI Policy - What Students Need to Know

Summary: Cambridge's emphasis is on independent scholarship and rigorous thinking. Detection tools like UnTXT support this by helping you ensure your assessments genuinely reflect your own understanding and analysis. Using UnTXT for self-audit aligns with Cambridge's commitment to developing independent scholars.

What Cambridge's AI Policy Actually Says

Cambridge's rule is one sentence, and it is worth having in front of you rather than paraphrased:

"A student using any unacknowledged content generated by artificial intelligence within a summative assessment as though it is their own work constitutes academic misconduct, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the assessment brief."

Two words carry the weight. Generated, and unacknowledged.

UnTXT generates nothing. It reads a draft you have already written and marks the passages carrying the statistical patterns of machine-written text. No text is produced, none is suggested, and nothing is altered. There is no generated content to acknowledge, because none was made.

What the policy does not do is mention checking tools at all — not to permit them, not to exclude them. We are telling you that rather than reading a permission into a silence. The rule is written about material that comes out of an AI and ends up in your work, which is a different object from a tool that reads what you wrote and hands it back unchanged.

Note also the tail of that sentence: your assessment brief can override it, in either direction. Cambridge is a collection of faculties that do not agree with each other about this, and several publish their own line. Classics, English, and History and Philosophy of Science have all issued separate guidance, and HPS is stricter than the University's baseline.

So read your brief and your faculty's page. They are the ones that bind you.

What we would do. Say you used it. One line — "I used UnTXT, an AI detection tool, to check my own draft before submission" — costs a sentence and removes the word unacknowledged from the conversation permanently. That word is doing most of the work in Cambridge's rule, and it is the cheapest one to disarm.

Source: Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Education Quality and Policy Office, University of Cambridge, checked 7 September 2026. Your faculty's guidance sits alongside it. Where Cambridge's pages and this one disagree, theirs is the one that counts.

Cambridge's Emphasis on Independent Thinking

At Cambridge, whether you're in Sciences, Engineering, or Humanities, the underlying commitment is the same: You should be developing your own thinking, not merely reproducing others'.

The Tripos system, supervisions, and practical work are all designed to challenge you to think yourself rather than accept received wisdom. Assessments are designed to test whether you've done that thinking.

This is why UnTXT matters:

• If you've used AI heavily without substantially rewriting, your assessment won't reflect your actual thinking
• Cambridge supervisors will know if the work doesn't sound like your authentic engagement with the material
• Using UnTXT proactively demonstrates you take that expectation seriously
• Auditing your own work is part of the independent scholarly practice Cambridge develops

Why Cambridge Students Use UnTXT

You've used AI for notes or exploration—but you need to verify your writing is authentically yours

Cambridge encourages exploration and using tools as part of the research process. But your final assessment should represent your thinking. UnTXT shows you which passages still carry AI characteristics from drafting, so you can rewrite them into your authentic voice.

You're in a technical subject and you used computational tools for work—but you want to verify your explanatory text is your own

In Sciences and Engineering, you often use tools as part of the work itself. Your written assessment of that work, though, should be your own analysis and explanation. UnTXT helps ensure your explanatory passages are authentically yours.

You want to understand what Cambridge means by "independent thinking" in practice

What comes back is two colours. Gold reads as your own voice; grey carries the patterning of machine-written prose. That is a prompt to reread, not a ruling on where your thinking came from — a detector cannot see that, and anybody claiming otherwise is selling something.

How to Use UnTXT for a Cambridge Assessment

1. Complete your research and thinking - This is the substantive work
2. Write your draft - Synthesising your understanding into your own words
3. Read the grey passages first - grey means the passage reads as machine-patterned; gold means it reads as yours
4. Assess flagged passages - Does this passage reflect my thinking, or did I borrow the language?
5. Re-run UnTXT - Confirm the assessment reads as authentically yours
6. Acknowledge in your submission - One line noting you used UnTXT is professional and transparent

Why this matters at Cambridge:

Your supervisor and assessor will read your work for evidence of your thinking. UnTXT helps ensure that evidence is clear and authentic.

What the Results Mean for Your Cambridge Assessment

UnTXT flags passages with AI characteristics. But at Cambridge, the real question isn't "does this sound AI-generated?" It's "does this sound like my authentic engagement with the material?"

Questions to ask about flagged passages:

• If my supervisor asked me to explain this passage in person, could I do it fluently?
• Did I write this in my own way, or did I adopt someone else's phrasing?
• Is this passage specific to my analysis, or is it generic?
• Does this reflect my actual thinking, or my best guess at what sounds scholarly?

The modules most relevant to Cambridge work:

Mostly gold with the odd grey patch in a section you wrote at speed is an ordinary result. Large stretches of grey are worth sitting with — though the usual cause is not what people fear. It is far more often the register: the flattened, hedged, faintly institutional voice that academic writing pulls all of us towards when we are tired.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use AI tools in my Cambridge assessment?

Cambridge's policy focuses on your own thinking and analysis. You can use tools as part of your research and thinking process. Your final written assessment should represent your own understanding. Check with your supervisor for guidance on your specific work.

What if I quoted or paraphrased AI without acknowledging it?

That's problematic. If you've incorporated AI-generated text, it should be cited. Most supervisors will accept this if it's acknowledged transparently, but hiding it is more serious.

I used AI heavily for research and drafting. Is that a problem?

Not inherently. The question is whether your final assessment reflects your own thinking and analysis. If you've thought through the material and written your own explanatory passages, you're fine. If you've mostly edited AI output lightly, that's a problem.

What if UnTXT flags my work but I'm confident it's mine?

Review the flagged passages in context. If they reflect your thinking and you can explain them, they're probably fine. If they feel unnatural when you read them aloud, consider revising to match your authentic voice more closely.

Can I use UnTXT before submitting?

Yes, absolutely. That's the primary use case. Most supervisors respect this kind of self-reflection and pre-submission quality checking.

How much does UnTXT cost?

First 1,000 words free. Cambridge assessments typically run 2,000–5,000 words, so the free allowance covers an extract rather than a whole piece. A full essay needs a monthly subscription, which starts at £8.40 including tax.

Independent Scholarship in the Age of AI

Cambridge has always been about developing independent thinkers. The tools change (printing press → computers → AI), but the expectation remains: You should be thinking for yourself.

Using AI as a research tool is fine. Using it to avoid thinking is not.

UnTXT helps you maintain that distinction by showing you which passages represent your authentic thinking and which don't.

If Your Supervisor Has Concerns

If your supervisor questions your work's authenticity:

1. Engage honestly about your process - How did you research? What tools did you use? How did you write it?
2. Provide context - Drafts, notes, supervision records showing your thinking
3. Discuss flagged passages specifically - If UnTXT flagged certain sections, explain your thinking for those
4. Acknowledge any shortcuts - If you were hastier than you should have been, say so
5. Demonstrate understanding - Be ready to discuss your thinking in detail

Most concerns resolve through conversation. Your supervisor wants to understand your process, and honest engagement usually clarifies things immediately.

The Bottom Line

Cambridge's strength is in developing independent, rigorous thinkers. UnTXT helps you ensure your assessments genuinely reflect that independence and rigor.

By auditing your work before submission, you're taking responsibility for its intellectual integrity—which is exactly what Cambridge expects.

Start for free - first 1,000 words. No payment needed. Sign up at untxt.uk

This page reflects UnTXT's understanding of University of Cambridge's publicly available AI policy and commitment to independent scholarship as of early 2026. Policy details may vary by college and subject. Always consult your college's specific guidance and your supervisor for your assessment.