Does zyBooks Detect AI or ChatGPT Code?

zyBooks is used in many intro programming courses, and its zyLabs are where students write and submit code. If you are worried about whether zyBooks can tell that code came from ChatGPT, the short answer is that its documentation does not describe AI detection. What it does describe is a set of tools that record how your code was written and compare it with classmates' code. Those tools can show a lot to an instructor, so it is worth knowing exactly what they are. Everything below about zyBooks comes from its official support pages, which we read in October 2026; check the linked pages for the current wording.

The tools zyBooks lists for programming integrity

zyBooks' support article on cheating detection and prevention for programming tasks describes what it calls a multi-faceted approach. The parts that matter most for students are:

• Similarity checker. A built-in tool that finds submitted programs that are very similar and highlights the similarities. zyBooks compares it to Stanford's MOSS.
• Signatures (coding trails). A compact visual record of your programming effort, visible to both you and your instructor.
• History. Every keystroke in the CR2 IDE is logged, with pastes, deletions and other file actions on a timestamped timeline.
• Analytics. Instructors can see how much time you spent programming in the zyLabs environment.
• IP logging. Instructors can see the IP addresses used for your submissions.
• Student Behavior Insights. In Advanced zyLabs, this highlights students whose work patterns differ significantly from the class, with details on runs, time spent, pasted code and other metrics, including an Abnormal Development score.

The same article also mentions zyBooks-maintained labs that change between terms and auto-generated challenge activities that give each student a different problem. Nothing on that page describes a tool that labels code as AI-written.

The similarity checker

zyBooks' SimChecker article says the tool runs a report across all submissions to a zyLab to find students with similar submissions. Scores range from 0 to 10, higher meaning more similar, and matching parts of each pair are highlighted. Instructors can add a known solution to the comparison, and the checker tries to count code that is similar even when variable names differ. That article lists support for zyLabs in C, C++, Python 3, Java and web programming; it is an older article, so the list may have grown.

Like MOSS, this compares code with other code. An AI-written solution that matches nobody else will not stand out on similarity alone, though several students handing in matching generated code could. See does MOSS detect AI code for why similarity tools work this way.

Coding trails and keystroke history

This is the part most students do not realize. The support article on the zyLab coding trail and student history explains that a coding trail appears just below the submit button. It shows the date and day you first opened the workspace, a mark for each develop run, the score of each submission, and the time you spent. Your instructor sees the same trail for every student and can click any run or submission to open your workspace at that point.

From there, the History view lets an instructor examine your work down to the keystroke. They can step forward and back, play it back at normal pace, or jump to markers for runs, submissions, insertions, deletions and file resets. Pastes get their own icon on the timeline. zyBooks says plainly that it provides the trail and history to discourage plagiarism, because students may be less likely to copy-paste when they can see their work is recorded.

There are limits. The cheating-prevention article says history is also recorded in VS Code, Jupyter and other IDEs, but not every keystroke. And if a lab is set up for you to code outside zyBooks and upload files, the coding trail contains only your submissions.

So can zyBooks tell if I used ChatGPT?

Not by name. None of the official pages we read describe a feature that decides whether code was written by a model. But the recorded history means an instructor does not need an AI detector to notice some things: a large block of code pasted in at once, a single submission earning full credit with no development runs, or very little time spent on a hard lab. Those are signs a person might ask about. They are not proof of anything, and there are honest explanations for each, such as writing code in another editor first.

zyBooks also uses AI itself. Its zyLabs AI Hints article describes a beta feature instructors can turn on in Advanced zyLabs, where a student who fails a test can ask for a hint about what the test is looking for. That is a help feature, not a detector.

What this means for you

• Assume your process is visible. In zyLabs, it usually is. That is good news if you did the work yourself, because the history backs you up.
• Work in the zyBook when your course asks you to. zyBooks itself recommends that instructors require it, or at least frequent submissions, so the trail reflects your real effort.
• Check your course's AI policy. Some instructors turn on AI Hints; others forbid any outside tools. The rules come from your course.
• Understand your code. If asked, be ready to explain what each part does and why you wrote it that way.

For more on the human side of this, read can professors tell if you used ChatGPT for code.

Checking how your code reads

You cannot see your class's similarity report, but you can check whether your code has the style patterns people associate with AI output. Paste it into the detector at the top of this page and read the reasons it lists. Treat it as a way to understand what a grader might notice, not as a verdict, and be ready to talk through your work.

Read more

• My code was flagged as AI but I wrote it — steps to take if you are accused.
• How to tell if code was written by ChatGPT — the signals people look for.

Frequently asked questions

Try the detector

Have a snippet you are unsure about? Paste it into the free AI Code Detector to get a verdict, an AI probability and the reasons behind it. No sign-up, and your code is not stored.