Pangram and false positives

A detector with a strong reputation for accuracy, used by publishers and increasingly by institutions.

What it claims

Its published technical report claims a false positive rate of 0.0041%. Independent testing in 2026 found it flagged none of 495 genuine human passages.

Where it fails

Even a very accurate detector is probabilistic, and it performs distinctly worse on text that imitates a specific author, missing around 10% of that in testing. It is also the detector least likely to produce a false accusation, so if it flagged you, treat the result seriously and assemble evidence rather than arguing about the tool.

How to respond

Do not attack the tool. If Pangram flagged a document you wrote, get the process evidence in front of a person quickly and calmly.

Worth knowing

Being accused by an accurate detector is a different situation from being accused by an inaccurate one, and it deserves a different response.