Dear members of the academic community,

In line with our mission, we are pleased to present a set of exemplary guidelines designed to assist your institution in navigating the transformative advancements in AI technology and the growing prominence of widely recognized generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT or Bard. These guidelines have been carefully crafted to aid you in formulating policies that align with these developments.

We encourage you to utilize these guidelines freely in the development of policies at your respective universities. Additionally, we eagerly anticipate any comments or feedback you may have, as we are committed to continuously updating and refining these guidelines.

Thank you for your collaboration and dedication to advancing the integration of AI in academia.

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Guidelines for AI Usage in Universities

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the university, aiming to help the academic community adapt to the rapid advancements in AI technology worldwide. These guidelines aim to ensure that the use of AI aligns with the university’s values, promotes academic integrity, protects privacy and security, and fosters a positive and inclusive learning environment.

Scope

These guidelines apply to all faculty, staff, researchers, students, and other members of the university community who utilize AI technologies for academic, research, or administrative purposes within the university’s premises or using university resources.

Definitions

AI Tools: Refers to a range of artificial intelligence technologies, including but not limited to machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, computer vision, and intelligent tutoring systems.

Generative AI (GAI): Refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of generating new content, including but not limited to text, images, audio, and video, based on training data.

Teaching with AI: The integration and utilization of AI tools in teaching methodologies, instructional design, and student assessment to enhance learning outcomes. 

AI for learning

Academic Integrity 

 GAI should be used in a manner that upholds academic integrity (students must not engage in plagiarism, copyright infringement, or any form of cheating by presenting generated content as their own original work).

 Regardless of the extent or scope of GAI usage, it is essential to provide proper attribution whenever GAI is utilized.

 When utilizing GAI, an accompanying annex must be included, providing a detailed explanation of the purpose and methodology behind the GAI usage. The annex should clearly outline the specific areas where GAI was employed, such as generating ideas, text elements, extended passages, lines of argument, pieces of evidence or other. The purpose of the annex is to offer a comprehensive account of how and why GAI was utilized in the context of the project.

 The utilization of GAI for assistance in in-class examinations, tests, or assignments is generally discouraged, except in cases where such assessments are explicitly designed and structured around the use of GAI.

Skill formation

GAI should be employed in a manner that enhances the understanding of the subject matter, facilitates learning and skill building.

Students should understand and be able to explain every aspect of the content generated by GAI.

Students should exercise caution and critically evaluate the generated content to ensure accuracy, reliability, and ethical standards before using or disseminating it.

Privacy and Consent

When using GAI, students must respect privacy rights and obtain necessary consents from individuals whose data may be used as part of the training data or generated content.

Ethical Considerations

Students must ensure that the generated content does not promote hate speech, discrimination, harassment, or any other form of harmful or offensive material.

AI for teaching

Pedagogical Integration

AI tools might be integrated into teaching practices in alignment with the course’s learning objectives, fostering enhanced student learning experiences and outcomes. 

If used, AI tools should encourage active student participation, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, and promote a learner-centered environment.

Grading Fairness

Teachers should actively strive to comprehend the functioning and mechanics of GAI.

Teachers should familiarize themselves with the functioning of tools used for detecting GAI-generated output and maintain awareness of their limitations:

  -False Positives: AI detection tools may incorrectly flag human-generated content as GAI-generated, leading to false positives.

  -False Negatives: Conversely, there is also the possibility of false negatives, where GAI-generated content is not detected by the tool, leading to undetected instances of GAI usage.

The result of tools designed to detect AI-generated content is not a definitive conclusion, and it cannot be used as a basis to impose academic integrity sanctions on students.

Lecturers should establish a reduced baseline for assessing students who disclose the use of GAI, taking into account the extent of its usage. To receive the highest grade, students must additionally demonstrate intelligent, insightful, formative work with the GAI.

Lecturers should enforce a substantial penalty for instances where students demonstrate low-energy or unreflective reuse of wording generated by GAI. This penalty should be significant enough to the extent of assigning zero points if students merely reproduce GAI output without thoughtful engagement or original input.

Ethical and Inclusive Use

AI tools should be selected and implemented in a manner that ensures accessibility and accommodates the diverse needs of students, including those with disabilities or specific learning requirements.

Transparency

At the outset of the course, lecturers should effectively communicate the GAI policies to students, ensuring clear understanding of the guidelines and expectations surrounding the use of GAI.

Lecturers have the option to establish customized rules regarding the use of GAI, but it is crucial to communicate these rules to students at the outset of the course. 

Students should be informed about grading differences between those who utilize GAI and those who do not at the beginning of the course. Clear explanations of these distinctions should be provided to ensure transparency and understanding among the students.

Faculty should provide students with clear explanations regarding the purpose, benefits, and limitations of using AI tools in the course. Students should understand how AI tools are being utilized to support their learning experiences.

When using AI tools, faculty should prioritize tools that provide explanations or justifications for their outputs, enabling students to understand the reasoning behind the tool’s suggestions or assessments.

Use of the AI for research

Responsible and Ethical Use

Researchers should clearly disclose the use of AI tools in their research methodology and provide appropriate attribution when referencing or incorporating AI-generated content.

Researchers must adhere to relevant privacy laws and obtain necessary consents when using AI tools that involve data collection, storage, or processing.

Researchers should be aware of potential biases in AI tools and take measures to address them, ensuring fairness and unbiased outcomes in research findings.

Researchers should respect intellectual property rights and comply with copyright laws when utilizing AI tools or incorporating AI-generated content into research papers.

Methodology and Data Analysis

Researchers should carefully evaluate the suitability of AI tools for their research objectives, considering factors such as accuracy, reliability, and compatibility with the research domain.

Findings or results obtained with the assistance of AI tools should be validated and verified through appropriate research methodologies, ensuring the robustness and validity of the research outcomes.

Researchers should prioritize the use of AI tools that provide explanations or insights into the reasoning behind their outputs, enabling a deeper understanding of the research process and results.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Researchers should appropriately attribute the contributions of AI tools or AI-generated content used in their research papers, in accordance with academic integrity standards and citation guidelines.

Researchers should ensure that their research work demonstrates originality, critical thinking, and creativity, going beyond mere reproduction of AI-generated content or ideas.

Peer Review and Collaboration

Researchers should transparently disclose the use of AI tools to peers and collaborators during the review and collaboration process, ensuring openness and facilitating meaningful discussions.

When collaborating with others, researchers should establish clear guidelines regarding the use of AI tools, data sharing, and authorship responsibilities.

Acknowledgment

These guidelines were prepared based on the experience of foreign higher education institutions, the analysis of the needs and problems of the academic community of higher education institutions conducted by OXSICO, and the comments and observations of the academic community. We thank the academic community for sharing their experiences and inspiration to prepare this document.

ChatGPT was used to create, refine the initial structure of the document, and proofread it.

We invite members of the academic community to send their notes and comments to info@oxsico.com. Your input will help improve these guidelines and refine best practices.

References

Boston University (2023). Policy on the Use of AI Text Generation. Retrieved from https://www.bu.edu/files/2023/02/GAIA-Final-2023.pdf

Cambridge University (2023). Authorship and contributorship. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/authors/publishing-ethics/research-publishing-ethics-guidelines-for-journals/authorship-and-contributorship

Hertie School (2023). Artificial IntelligenceTools at the Hertie School Teaching Guidelines for Faculty and Students. Retrieved from https://hertieschool-f4e6.kxcdn.com/fileadmin/4_Debate/Debate_Photos_Downloads/2023/2023-02_AI_use_guidelines/AI_Guidelines_Spring_Term.pdf

Monash University (2023). Policy and practice guidance around acceptable and responsible use of AI technologies. Retrieved from https://www.monash.edu/learning-teaching/teachhq/Teaching-practices/artificial-intelligence/policy-and-practice-guidance-around-acceptable-and-responsible-use-of-ai-technologies

Stanford university (2023). Generative AI Policy Guidance. Retrieved from https://communitystandards.stanford.edu/generative-ai-policy-guidance

The University of Edinburgh (2023). Guidance for students on the use of Generative AI (such as ChatGPT). Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/atoms/files/universityguidanceforstudentsonworkingwithgenerativeai.pdf

University Of Puget Sound. AI-based writing tools: guidance and policy. Retrieved from https://www.pugetsound.edu/ai-based-writing-tools-guidance-and-policy

University of Toronto (2023). ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.viceprovostundergrad.utoronto.ca/strategic-priorities/digital-learning/special-initiative-artificial-intelligence/