AcademiTrace: A Privacy-First AI Usage Audit Tool for Academic Compliance

Research Context and Background

AcademiTrace is a browser extension built to help students, researchers, and professionals keep track of how they use artificial intelligence tools for their work. Many schools and universities now require people to declare when they use AI to write essays or complete assignments. AcademiTrace solves this problem by automatically recording when a user interacts with popular AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude. It creates a simple report that shows exactly when and how long the user spent using these tools without needing to read or store the actual text written.

Benefits

The main advantage of AcademiTrace is its strong focus on privacy. The tool uses a local-first design, which means all data stays on the user's computer. It never sends prompts or answers to external servers. There are no user accounts to create and no tracking involved. The extension only captures metadata, which includes the time of the interaction, the platform used, the word count, and the page title. It does not store the actual content of the conversation.

Another key benefit is how easy it is to use. The extension runs quietly in the background and detects usage on supported sites automatically. Users can filter their logs by today, the last seven days, the current month, or all time. The tool also supports multiple languages for counting words, including English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. When a user needs to submit a report, they can generate a formal AI Usage Declaration document with one click. This report includes a summary, a breakdown by platform, session history, and a space for a signature.

Use Cases

AcademiTrace is designed for PhD students, researchers, lecturers, and any professional who needs to document their AI usage transparently. It is particularly useful for students who must declare their use of AI tools when submitting assignments or theses. The tool works on both logged-in and guest sessions for ChatGPT and Claude. It helps users meet the transparency requirements of institutional AI policies without having to manually write down every interaction. The generated declaration document can be easily attached to essays, reports, or academic papers to show compliance with school rules.

Pricing

AcademiTrace is available as a free browser extension on the Chrome Web Store. There are no subscription fees or hidden costs mentioned for the basic functionality of the tool.

Vibes

As of the latest update, the extension has not yet received any user ratings on the Chrome Web Store. It currently shows a rating of zero out of five. Because the tool is new, there are no public reviews or testimonials available to share about user experiences.

Additional Information

The current version of AcademiTrace is 1.1.0, and it was last updated on April 21, 2026. The extension is very lightweight, with a file size of about 23.61 KiB. It is developed by an individual using the email address [email protected]. The developer has stated that user data will not be sold to third parties, used for lending purposes, or transferred for reasons unrelated to the tool's core function. The extension only requests permission to store data locally and to access specific sites like chatgpt.com and claude.ai to detect interactions.