Grammarly launches authorship verification to fight false AI accusations

Academic integrity and professional credibility increasingly depend on proving that human minds, not artificial intelligence, crafted important documents. Whether you’re a student submitting coursework, a professional presenting proposals, or a researcher publishing findings, demonstrating authentic authorship has become essential in our AI-saturated landscape.

Grammarly, the widely-used writing assistant platform, recently introduced a solution called “Track Your Work” that automatically documents your writing process as you type. This free feature works within Google Docs and Microsoft Word online, creating a digital paper trail that proves you personally authored your content rather than relying on AI generation.

The timing couldn’t be more critical. As generative AI tools become sophisticated enough to produce human-quality text, distinguishing between authentic and artificial writing grows increasingly difficult. Educational institutions are implementing AI detection policies, employers are scrutinizing submitted work, and publishers are establishing new verification standards. Having concrete proof of your writing process provides crucial protection against false accusations of AI usage.

How Grammarly’s authorship tracking works

Track Your Work operates as a real-time monitoring system that categorizes text sources as you write. When enabled on a new document, the feature continuously analyzes your typing patterns, timestamps, and content creation methods. It distinguishes between original typing, copied text, pasted content, and other input methods, building a comprehensive record of how your document came together.

The system integrates with Grammarly Authorship, a broader verification framework that creates detailed reports showing the origins of every piece of text in your document. These reports include timestamps, source classifications, and writing behavior patterns that would be nearly impossible to replicate using AI generation alone.

For Grammarly Pro subscribers, the feature extends beyond basic tracking to include AI detection and plagiarism checking, providing a more comprehensive authorship verification system. However, the core tracking functionality remains available to all users, including those on Grammarly’s free plan.

Setting up writing verification

Step 1: Create a new document

Track Your Work only functions with brand-new documents created after enabling the feature. Open either Google Docs or Microsoft Word online—the feature doesn’t work with locally installed Office applications since it requires browser-based integration with Grammarly’s servers.

This limitation exists because the tracking system needs to monitor your writing from the very beginning. Attempting to enable verification on existing documents would provide incomplete data, undermining the credibility of the authorship report.

Step 2: Enable the tracking feature

Look for a fingerprint-shaped icon at the bottom left of your document interface. This icon represents Grammarly’s authorship tracking controls. Click the icon to open a popup window containing an on/off toggle switch.

Slide the toggle to the “On” position to activate Track Your Work. Once enabled, you’ll notice a “See The Report” button appears, allowing you to view your authorship verification at any time during the writing process.

Step 3: Write and monitor your progress

Begin typing your document normally. Track Your Work runs silently in the background, categorizing every piece of content you add. Original typing appears as “fresh and new” content, while any copied or pasted material gets flagged as “copied” regardless of whether you’re copying your own previous work.

This strict categorization serves an important purpose: it creates an indisputable record of your writing process that can withstand scrutiny from educators, employers, or publishers concerned about AI usage.

Step 4: Generate your authorship report

Click the “See The Report” button at any time to view your current authorship breakdown. The report displays percentages showing how much content is original versus copied, along with detailed timestamps and source classifications.

For documents with mixed content sources, the report provides granular details about which sections came from where, creating a comprehensive map of your document’s creation process.

Step 5: Share your verification

When you need to prove your authorship, click the “Share report” button within the authorship report interface. Toggle the sharing option to “On” to generate a unique verification link that you can send to anyone requiring proof of your authentic writing.

Recipients of this link can access a detailed breakdown of your writing process without seeing the actual document content, protecting your privacy while providing necessary verification.

Real-world applications and limitations

Track Your Work proves particularly valuable for academic submissions, where AI detection software might flag legitimate human writing as potentially artificial. Students can proactively provide authorship reports alongside their papers, eliminating doubt about their work’s authenticity.

Professional environments benefit similarly. Marketing teams can document campaign creation processes, legal departments can verify brief authorship, and consultants can prove proposal originality to clients concerned about AI-generated content.

However, the system has notable constraints. The browser-only requirement means users working in offline environments or preferring desktop applications cannot access the feature. Additionally, the tracking only works for completely new documents, limiting its usefulness for collaborative projects or iterative writing processes.

The verification also depends on Grammarly’s continued operation and data retention policies. Users concerned about long-term proof should consider supplementary documentation methods for critical documents.

Privacy and data considerations

Grammarly’s tracking system necessarily collects detailed information about your writing process, including timestamps, typing patterns, and content sources. While this data enables powerful authorship verification, it also creates a comprehensive record of your writing habits stored on Grammarly’s servers.

Users should review Grammarly’s privacy policy to understand how this tracking data is stored, processed, and potentially shared. For highly sensitive documents, consider whether the authorship benefits outweigh the privacy implications of detailed writing surveillance.

Closing thoughts

As AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from human writing, proactive authorship verification transforms from convenience to necessity. Grammarly’s Track Your Work feature provides accessible, real-time documentation that can protect writers from false AI accusations while building trust with readers, educators, and employers. For anyone regularly producing important written content, enabling this verification represents a smart investment in professional credibility and academic integrity.