technology
Substack Adds Pangram Tool to Scan Posts for AI-Generated Text
The platform introduced an AI detector on July 21, 2026, that estimates the share of text created with artificial intelligence in posts, notes, replies, and comments. The feature rolls out on the web and iOS app, with an Android version planned soon.
Jul 21, 3:26 PM·1m read1 source
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Substack made the Pangram-powered detector available on the web and iOS app on July 21, 2026, with an Android version to follow. The Verge reported that the tool estimates the share of AI-generated text in posts, notes, replies and comments. Readers can analyze any item longer than 100 words by selecting the “Scan for AI text” option from the three-dot menu.
Writers may also run the detector on their own drafts and flag inaccurate results. Substack co-founder and CEO Chris Best said the integration is intended to increase transparency as AI use grows on social platforms. “The core problem is not people using AI, or the quality of its output,” Best wrote.
“The problem is when there is a mismatch between a reader’s expectation and reality, especially when they unwittingly invest their attention in something with no human thought on the other end.
The company will also let creators add a “How I make this” statement that explains their writing process. Best noted that Pangram can detect only whether AI was used to produce the text, not whether human care was applied or whether AI served merely as a research source.
“When readers have to wonder if what they’re reading is real, it undermines trust in authorship and threatens the livelihood of writers — including those who use AI tools thoughtfully to produce work they believe in,” Best wrote.
