Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT

You may use an AI tool like ChatGPT without breaching academic integrity in the following ways: 

If your instructor allowed it and you use it exactly as approved 

• You must ensure that you use only the AI tool that was approved AND that you only use it in the way it is allowed. For example, if your professor says that you can ask ChatGPT to come up with five arguments for and five against recycling, but that you then must discuss them critically yourself using sources you found through the Bailey Library PRIMO Smart Search box, you are only allowed to ask ChatGPT for the arguments. You would NOT be allowed to ask ChatGPT to discuss the arguments it came up with. We suggest that you include an acknowledgment of how you used the AI, including your prompt(s) and the generated output with your assignment (see the Citing Generated Content tab). You also need to properly cite the output ChatGPT created, and of course, the resources you found in the library as well. 

As a study aid to prepare for exams

• Generative AI can generate quizzes and questions that you can use to practice and prepare for exams. However, you cannot upload content your professor created without their consent as otherwise you may be infringing on their copyright. So, before uploading any course materials you MUST ask your instructor if you can do so. 

As a study aid to improve your understanding

• You may ask generative AI to explain concepts and theories that you are having a hard time understanding in plain language or in different ways. Note that you must evaluate the generated content for accuracy and that you cannot use it in your assignment, unless you have permission from your instructor to do so.

As an example to use for critical discussion

• You may use AI generated output if your professor permitted you to use it to discuss it critically. For example, if you are permitted to prompt ChatGPT to write a poem in the style of Susan Glickman or prompt DALL-E to create an image in the style of Dorothy Knowles, and include the output in your work to discuss it's style, etc. You should still include an acknowledgement of how you used the AI tool and a citation for the output (see the Citing Generated Content tab). If you are using generated images, audio files, and/or codes, check if your AI tool mentions any use or copyright restrictions on the works it creates. 

Credit: Thompson Rivers University Library, Artificial Intelligence Guide for Student Appropriate Use 

If you use an AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT) without permission from your professor to create your assignment and then submit it as your own work, you are committing breaches of academic integrity in a variety of ways: 

You would be cheating

• Cheating includes misrepresenting one’s knowledge by using any unauthorized device or aid in the preparation or completion of an academic assessment. If you did not get permission from your professor to use an AI tool for your assignment and do so anyway, you would be using an unauthorized aid. As you are submitting an assignment that was not done by you, you would misrepresent what you can do and what you know.

You may be plagiarizing

• Plagiarism means presenting the ideas and words of others as your own without giving proper credit to the original sources. If you are submitting an assignment that was created by an AI tool as your own creation, you are presenting the ideas of others, even if this "other" is not a human being.

You may be submitting fabricated or false information

• Fabrication refers to the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings. Text generating AI tools such as ChatGPT sometimes make up information and references to sources that don't exist. This is commonly referred to as "AI Hallucination". If you submit an assignment that contains information, research, or data that is made up and/or references that don't exist, then you are committing academic integrity misconduct in the form of fabrication.

You may be infringing copyright

• AI tools use content from the internet to generate their output. In the United States, content in a fixed form is automatically copyrighted.  For example, if you prompt a text-generating AI tool like ChatGPT to create a song similar to Leonard Cohen's "Anthem", or ask an image-generating AI tool like DALL-E to create an image using the style of a contemporary artist, you may be infringing copyright as AI tools draw from the existing works and reproduce derivatives of them.

Credit: Thompson Rivers University Library, Artificial Intelligence Guide for Students 

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania produced a series of videos regarding the use of AI. In this module, they discuss how students can use AI to improve their learning and they include example prompts, guidelines, and tips for getting the most out of the interactions.