I’ve recently been experimenting with QuillBot, an AI-powered spelling- and grammar-checking tool that also has rewriting capabilities thanks to generative AI. Additionally, QuillBot offers AI detection and summary tools, but I didn't explore those features for this story.
After utilizing the free version available as a Google Chrome extension and having it monitor my writing in emails and stories for several days, I’m impressed with the tool overall and believe it would be helpful to my students. However, I have some serious caveats.
For example, I’m a fan of the traditional spelling and grammar aspects of QuillBot, not the generative AI rewrites it offers. These rewrites violate the policies of most publications I write for as a journalist, including this one, as well as my personal ethics. Additionally, it would violate the rules I establish for my students around generative AI in my classes.
These ethical issues aside, when I’ve tested its rewriting abilities for the purposes of this class, I begrudgingly have to admit it did a decent job. I still prefer my original phrasing, but it wasn’t as lifeless as most AI rewrites I’ve seen, and it highlighted the changes it made, which is a nice feature.
Below I talk more about QuillBot’s spelling and grammar-checking abilities, interface, and generative AI rephrasing.
QuillBot Excels As A Grammar and Spellcheck Tool
I used QuillBot primarily as a spellcheck tool and an alternative to popular options such as Grammarly. In this respect, QuillBot excels and exceeds my expectations.
After I downloaded the Chrome plugin, the tool automatically scanned stories I was writing in Google Docs and was excellent at spotting small but significant mistakes such as typos and missing commas. For instance, it reminded me to put a comma after the word “respect” in the second sentence of the previous paragraph, which I had missed in my initial draft of this story.
QuillBot works by underlining in pink or yellow words and phrases for which it suggests changes. The tool also offers the option to use a sidebar as you type. This will flag mistakes with little animations and gives you the ability to navigate through each suggestion it makes one by one.
I go back on forth on the utility of this tool. At first I liked that it was flashing suggestions and reminding me to fix mistakes as I went, but ultimately, I found that slowed me down. However, different writers may have different preferences, and I can see an argument for using the sidebar tool.
Some Small Drawbacks
Like any spellcheck tool, QuillBot will occasionally make suggestions that are incorrect or imperfect. In the final sentence of the previous paragraph, it suggests a comma after “At first… ,” which I feel hurts the flow of the sentence. However, I don’t mind it flagging the word, so I can take another look and think about whether a comma should go there or not.
For experienced writers, these types of suggestions won’t be a problem. It can be a little problematic for students still struggling with grammar rules, and therefore, more likely to listen to whatever the tool says. But even in that case, I think students will find the vast majority of its suggestions helpful, and despite being occasionally led astray by the tool, will still benefit overall from using it.
Generative AI Features
Now let’s take a closer look at the generative AI paraphrasing tools.
The QuillBot sidebar that pops up in Chrome gives you the option to input text and have QuillBot "paraphrase" it. You can only do this a few times with the free version, but the subscription version provides unlimited paraphrasing.
Here’s the first sentence of this story I wrote: I’ve recently been experimenting with QuillBot, an AI-powered spelling- and grammar-checking tool that also has rewriting capabilities thanks to generative AI.
Here’s how QuillBot rewrote it: Recently, I have been exploring with QuillBot, an AI-powered tool for grammar and spelling checks that also uses generative AI to rewrite text.
I like that it highlights the new words it has added to the sentence, and I’m not too proud to admit that in some ways the sentence might read a little bit better. But I don’t like it. First and most importantly, it has obliterated my voice as a writer, and that’s kind of what writing is all about. Also, the change from “exploring” to “experimenting” strikes me as changing the meaning of my initial sentence.
It’s true a student writer might benefit from this type of paraphrasing by seeing how a sentence can be reworked and improved, but I wouldn't recommend it to a student because I worry that if they start using this tool, the temptation of overusing it will be too great. And, yes, I know many students will use AI whether I recommend it to them or not, but still, I’d rather not be the person who leads them to the dark side.
The Bottom Line About QuillBot
QuillBot’s traditional spelling and grammar check is a wonderful free tool and acts as a second pair of eyes, catching many mistakes and spelling errors that could otherwise hamper my writing. I remain skeptical of its generative AI features, but I’m not a fan of these tools for writing in general.
Overall, I’m a fan of QuillBot and will use it going forward and think it can be helpful for students as well.
