AI cheating: Words that give the game away

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David Astle Crossword compiler and ABC Radio Melbourne presenter November 21, 2025 — 6.00pm

As a testament to language change, let’s delve into the tapestry of modern English. By now your alarm bells should be clanging. There’s something off-key about that first sentence, but what? Maybe it’s the wonky metaphor, since delving is reserved for earth or pockets or even the past – not tapestries.

Or perhaps the glitch is tone, the prose a little purple. As a hint, let’s meet Dr Jeremy Nguyen, a senior researcher and lecturer at the Swinburne Business School, who last year sifted some 39 million citations from biomedical literature, looking for instances of “delve”.

Yes, an academic delve into delve, a word adored by chatbots, as Nguyen had gleaned, a