Expressing Ideas: AI-Integrated Paraphrasing to Students’ Writing Skills

<p style="text-align:justify">The main thrust of the study was to explore the third-year English student’s sentiments on the application of the artificial intelligence (AI)-integrated paraphrasing tools. Specifically, it aimed to investigate the benefits and drawbacks brought by AI paraphrasing tools towards the writing skills of the students. The investigation utilized a semi-structured interviews with an open-ended questionnaire using an audio-video recorder. The data gathered were interpreted using the Thematic Analysis of Braun and Clarke. The study was carried out at one of the campuses of a state university located at Candijay, Bohol, Philippines. Using the Purposive sampling technique, twelve (12) respondents provided information on the research endeavor. The findings revealed that students had a positive opinion of AI-integrated paraphrase tools: they saw them as helpful resources that significantly improve their academic writing process; it includes plagiarism reduction, efficiency, and timesaving, and aids in rephrasing text. The findings also revealed the risks and issues of using AI-integrated paraphrasing tools, such as Prone to plagiarism, automated suggestions dependency, and loss of original meaning and context. With that, the students showed how they deal with those risks and issues, including as responsible users and thorough editing and reviewing. In accordance with the study, students are encouraged not to rely excessively on AI-integrated paraphrase tools, even though they can improve their writing abilities. This research emphasizes that students play a pivotal role in ensuring the appropriateness of texts generated by AI-integrated paraphrasing tools by mastering the art of proper paraphrasing.</p>