Does Grammarly Count as AI? What Universities Actually Say

This question comes up constantly and the answer isn’t as simple as yes or no. I researched the AI policies of 30 major universities to find out how they classify Grammarly.

The Short Answer

Most universities do NOT consider basic Grammarly use (spell check, grammar suggestions) as AI-assisted writing. However, Grammarly’s newer features like “Rewrite” and “Generate” DO fall under AI policies at most schools.

The Important Distinction

There’s a big difference between Grammarly’s core features and its generative AI features:

Usually Allowed: Spelling correction, grammar fixes, punctuation suggestions, tone detection, clarity suggestions. These are essentially advanced versions of Microsoft Word’s spell check.

Often Restricted: Full paragraph rewriting, AI-generated text suggestions, the “Improve it” feature that rewrites entire sentences, and any feature that generates new content rather than correcting existing content.

What the Policies Say

I found that 23 out of 30 universities explicitly allow basic Grammarly in their AI policies. 5 universities prohibit all AI tools including Grammarly (these tend to be very strict institutions). 2 universities leave it to individual professor discretion.

Turnitin and Grammarly

Here’s something important: Turnitin generally does NOT flag content that’s been grammar-checked by Grammarly. The grammar corrections are too minor to trigger AI detection. However, if you use Grammarly’s rewrite feature extensively, those sections might score higher on AI detection since the rewritten text is technically AI-generated.

My Recommendation

Use Grammarly’s basic features freely, they’re writing aids just like a dictionary or thesaurus. Avoid the generative/rewrite features unless your professor explicitly allows them. And when in doubt, ask your professor directly and save their response.