The short answer
No, Canvas does not have its own built-in AI detector. Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) made by Instructure. It handles assignments, submissions, grading and course pages, and it lets schools connect third-party tools for jobs it does not do itself, including plagiarism and AI checking.
So whether your Canvas submission is checked for AI depends on your school. If your institution has connected a checker, and your teacher has turned it on for an assignment, your submission may be scanned. If not, Canvas simply stores what you hand in.
How plagiarism and AI checking works in Canvas
Canvas supports external tools through the LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) standard and through its plagiarism review framework. An institution licenses a checking service, an administrator connects it to Canvas, and teachers enable it on individual assignments.
When a checker is enabled for an assignment, the flow typically looks like this:
- You submit a file or a text entry to the assignment in Canvas, as usual.
- Canvas passes the submission to the connected service.
- The service compares it with its sources, which may include the web, publications and a store of earlier student submissions, and may also run an AI writing check if it offers one and the school has enabled it.
- A similarity result, sometimes shown as a coloured indicator or percentage, appears next to the submission in SpeedGrader or the gradebook. Whether students can see it depends on the tool and the teacher’s settings.
Some widely used services integrate with Canvas this way, and what each one checks for changes over time. If you want to know exactly what is scanned, the product your school uses and its current documentation are the places to look.
How to tell if your course uses a checker
There are a few signs, and one reliable method.
- The assignment page or submission screen mentions it. Many tools show a notice or an agreement when you submit.
- You see a similarity score after submitting, usually next to your submission in Canvas.
- The syllabus says so. Many courses list the integrity tools they use, and their AI policy.
- Ask. Your teacher or your school’s academic integrity or IT office can tell you which tools are used and what they check. It is a normal question.
What Canvas can and cannot see
Separate from any checker, Canvas records some activity within the platform, and teachers can see some of it. The details depend on the feature and the school’s settings, but broadly:
| Canvas can generally show | Canvas cannot see on its own |
|---|---|
| When you submitted, and whether it was late | Other browser tabs or apps you have open |
| Each version you submitted, if resubmission is allowed | Whether you used ChatGPT or another AI tool |
| Course activity, such as page views and participation | Where pasted text came from |
| Some in-quiz activity, depending on the quiz tool | Your screen, unless a separate proctoring tool is used |
Are discussions and quizzes checked?
Plagiarism review tools are most commonly enabled on assignments. Whether discussion posts, quiz answers or other submission types are checked depends on the specific tool and how your institution has set it up, so do not assume either way. If it matters to you, ask your teacher.
Does Canvas keep my submissions?
Canvas stores your submissions in the course. Separately, some checking services keep a copy of submitted work in their own database so that future submissions can be compared with it. Whether that happens depends on the tool and your institution’s settings, and it is usually explained in the tool’s terms or your school’s policy.
Proctoring and lockdown browsers are separate products that some schools add for exams. They are not part of Canvas by default.
For students: what to do
Whether or not your course runs a checker, the approach is the same: do your own work, follow the AI policy, and be able to show your process.
- Read the AI policy for the course and the assignment. If AI is allowed, disclose and cite it; see how to cite ChatGPT.
- Draft somewhere with version history, such as Google Docs or Word, rather than typing straight into the Canvas box. It protects your work and shows how it developed.
- Check before you submit. Run your draft through a plagiarism check and an AI check so you can fix missing citations and see which sentences might be flagged.
- If you are flagged, ask to see the report, and share your drafts and notes. A score is a likelihood, not proof.
For teachers: options if your Canvas has no AI checker
If your institution has not connected an AI checker, or you want a second view, you still have practical options.
- Download and check submissions separately. Canvas lets you download assignment submissions, which you can then check in an external tool.
- Ask for process evidence. Outlines, drafts or version history submitted alongside the final work give you more to go on than any score.
- Use in-class writing as a baseline for each student’s voice.
- Follow up in conversation when something looks off. Our guide on talking to a student about plagiarism covers how.
Whatever tool you use, treat an AI score as a reason to look closer, not as a finding. See how teachers check for AI for a fuller process.
Where Plagiarism Checker Plus fits
Plagiarism Checker Plus does not have a Canvas integration, and it does not run inside Canvas assignments. It works alongside Canvas in three ways:
The web app
Paste text or upload a document to get a plagiarism report and a sentence-level AI report. The first check per tool is free up to 1,000 words without an account, and a free account includes 3,000 words a month. Teachers can organise checks in folders by class; see Plagiarism Checker Plus for teachers.
The Chrome extension
The Chrome extension adds a Check button to web text boxes once they contain 50 or more words, and lets you check any highlighted text on a page. That includes text you are typing into a browser text box, such as a discussion reply or a text-entry submission, before you post it. Results open in the extension’s side panel.
The Google Docs add-on
If you draft in Google Docs before submitting to Canvas, the Google Docs add-on checks the document where you write it.