Who Wrote That, AI or You?

July 17, 2026

Host Jason Michael Perry sits down with Joseph Thibault, founder and CEO of Cursive Technology, to dig into one of the most contested questions in education right now: in a world where AI can write anything, how do you know if the thinking actually belongs to the person who submitted it?

In this episode, they explore what “plagiarism” even means anymore — how the old definition doesn’t map onto a world where AI can do the thinking while a student writes every word, or where detectors flag innocent students for work they genuinely produced. Joseph brings his perspective as someone who’s been tracking this problem since before most schools had a policy, including his work building Cursive’s typing biometrics platform that focuses on the process of writing, not just the final product.

Podcast Notes & Links

Cursive Technology — Joseph Thibault’s academic integrity platform
NBC News — College Students, AI Cheating Detectors, and Humanizers — The January 2026 investigation featuring Joseph Thibault
Cursive Blog — Joseph on the NBC Report — His additional context on trust, surveillance, and the “new agreement” schools need to make with students
This Isn’t Fine — Joseph Thibault’s newsletter tracking the academic integrity and essay mill landscape

Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by:

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Credits

Thanks to the team at WYPR, our producer Sam Bermas-Dawes, and Myrna Martinez, Head of Operations and Marketing at PerryLabs