As AI content floods the internet, Pangram raises $9M to detect it

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0:50So you can focus on other important things, like savoring that last bit of pumpkin pie. From early startups to Fortune 500 companies, thousands are turning to Framer to build a website they'll love. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's framer.com slash tcstartups for 30 % off. Rules and restrictions may apply. New York-based AI detection startup Pangram is on a mission to combat the AI slop infestation spreading across the Internet, and it just raised$9 million on a bet that demand for tools that distinguish human-generated content from AI-generated text will only grow.

1:42Pangram's fundraise, led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Haystack, Script Capital, and Cadenza, comes as the startup also launches its next-generation AI text detection model, Pangram 4, and an AI image detection model, Pangram Image. Pangram says the new text detection model is over 99 % accurate at finding AI-assisted writing and mixed human-AI content. Plus, it can more easily detect AI humanizer programs. The AI image detector is only available via research preview for now. Pangram plans to release it more widely in the coming weeks. Stanford AI and machine learning grads Max Spiro and Bradley Emi launched Pangram about two years ago, after the launch of ChatGPT opened the floodgates for an internet full of bots, AI-generated SEO slop content, and what Spiro calls LLM-powered Russian disinformation campaigns and UAE-influence campaigns on Twitter.

2:54Spiro told TechCrunch, I think it's just incredibly valuable to know whether what you're looking at is something that's AI-generated or not. Especially text that you're reading, because it changes how people approach the text. Is this something that I'm going to have to look out for hallucinations and jump in skeptically? Or is this something that I trust was well-researched from an actual journalist? Pangram's AI detection system is essentially a large machine learning model that was trained on tens of millions of known human documents. The startup then created a synthetic mirror for each document, replicating the topic, length, and tone of voice, but written by a frontier LLM.

3:41Sparrow said, Our model is learning the stylistic differences and the choices that AI makes consistently, and is able to use that to learn what makes something AI-generated with high confidence. Sparrow also added that the AI detector is not relying on copy-paste metadata or hidden watermarks. For Pangram, AI detection is not just about whether or not a piece of text was written entirely by AI. It's also about distinguishing between levels of AI assistance, such as the case of someone who writes something themselves, but then asks AI to edit or clean it up. Sparrow believes AI assistance can be acceptable, just so long as the writer discloses their use of AI.

4:29Pangram's emergence comes at a time when AI usage is becoming more commonplace. In some cases, like the Canadian politician who read an AI prompt aloud in a speech to lawmakers, the mistakes result in ridicule. In other cases, as with certain lawyers making their case using fake citations created by ChatGPT, the consequences could be sanctions and fines. That backlash is also starting to show up in institutional rules. The Open Access Archive introduced a new enforcement policy this year, stating that submissions containing evidence that authors failed to review LLM output, like hallucinated references or meta-comments such as, would you like me to make any changes, can trigger a one-year submission ban.

5:20Pangram is not the only one betting that AI detection will become more sought after. Competitors like Winston AI, Originality.ai, CopyLeaks, and GPT-0 are chasing the same demand, each building its own detector. Pangram's technology, while not perfect, could help fuel the resistance to accepting the AI-generated content flooding the internet, the courtroom, and academic papers. Users can access Pangram via a$20 per month subscription on the web or download the Chrome extension, which automatically labels posts in real-time on X, LinkedIn, Substack, Reddit, and Medium. It also provides a feed health score with a percentage breakdown of human versus AI content on your screen.

6:08Pangram also offers its technology via API. Notably, Substack recently integrated Pangram's technology into its platform to show readers which of their favorite authors write their newsletters using AI. Other API customers include Quora, schools and universities, publishers and agents, and recruiters, among others. Now, Sparrow says he does not want his technology to fuel a witch hunt against people using AI for writing, but that there needs to be some sort of mechanism to push back against the slob. He said, the future that I see is that AI content just continues to proliferate. We're getting new GPUs faster than new people are being born.

6:53If we do not actively discriminate in favor of human content, then we're just going to see more and more AI, and it's just going to drown out any human signal that we have. That's all for now. For the latest in tech news, go to TechCrunch.com.

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