Building AI policies into your syllabus

A policy does not have to be extensive, but it should provide clear guidance to students on how they may and may not use generative AI in your class. We urge instructors to permit the use of generative AI tools wherever appropriate but also to talk with students about why you are approaching things as you are.

Here are two examples. One is short. The other offers more explanation to students. The second version is from an editing class that Doug Ward, associate director of CTE, teaches. It can be easily adapted to nearly any discipline, though.

Brief version

You may use generative AI tools in this class in most instances. That includes generating ideas, outlining steps in a project, finding sources, getting feedback on your writing, and overcoming obstacles on papers and projects. Using those tools to generate all or most of an assignment, though, will be considered academic misconduct. If you are ever in doubt, ask. In your course work, you will be asked to explain in a reflection statement how you used any generative AI tools.

A more extensive version

Journalism, like many professions, is learning to adapt to generative artificial intelligence. No one knows what that adaptation might mean in the future, but it seems clear that you will need to know how to use AI tools in whatever career you choose. To help you gain those skills, we will experiment with Bing Chat, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools this semester, with a goal of learning to apply them in meaningful and ethical ways. At times, though, you will not be allowed to use AI. That’s because the core skills an editor needs – critical evaluation, creativity, inquiry, collegiality – have nothing to do with technology. Generative AI is useless if you don’t know how to evaluate and adapt what it produces. We will work at honing those evaluation and adaptation skills throughout the semester. I will tell you when we will use AI tools and when we won’t.

 A few ground rules:

• Do your work honestly. Turning in work you have cut and pasted from generative AI is academic misconduct. It’s no different from cutting and pasting from a website. It is also academic misconduct if you use AI tools when you are asked not to. The goal is to use generative AI to help you improve your skills, not to avoid doing assignments. Read the university’s policy on academic misconduct and the KU Code of Ethical Conduct and follow those in all your work.
• Explain your use of AI. If you use AI tools to assist in your work, include a paragraph explaining how you used them, how they helped you, and how you made the work your own. Include explanations of where AI wasn’t effective or where it provided weak or false information. Also explain what you learned about prompting and how you can improve your prompting in the future.
• If you aren’t sure at any time, ask. That’s an important skill all journalists must learn.

Another perspective on syllabus language

This is advice that Katie Conrad, professor of English, provided to colleagues in her department. It includes a syllabus statement for an honors class she has taught.

No matter your position on the use of so-called AI in the classroom, I recommend that you consider first your course goals and whether and how any given technology might undermine or support your students in the process of meeting those goals. In full disclosure, I take a “critical AI literacy” (Bali 2023) approach to the media-generative tools now commonly called “generative AI”: that is, we need to understand these tools in order to know when and when not to use them, and we need to consider them in the larger context out of which they emerge, including the harms associated with them. My approach below is informed by my “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education”. Just as a reminder, Sean Kamperman and I put together some curated resources on the topic of critical AI literacy for our AI & Digital Literacy Summit in June, including a number of tools (NB: assume no particular judgment on our part on the inclusion or exclusion of any given tool). 

For your reference and to give you a sense of a range of possible individual classroom policy responses to generative AI (the cluster of tools including ChatGPT and other LLMs like Bing, Bard, and Claude), Lance Eaton has curated a collection of “Classroom Policies for AI Generative Tools.” (Note that many of these were crafted in early spring 2023 before the launch of other models and before the incorporation of generative AI options into Google Docs and Grammarly [known as GrammarlyGo, and currently only available with the paid model]).

Below is a short draft syllabus policy that you are welcome to adapt and/or adopt; it is not meant to be prescriptive. There may well be uses for AI tools in your course, and if you can imagine ways that students might productively use them, I recommend being very clear about where and why students might be allowed to use them and how you want students to cite their usage.  (Note: there is not yet an agreed-upon standard for citing large language models; the APA has suggested a model, but it has been criticized for treating LLMs as equivalent to authors—problematic for a number of reasons including that they synthesize the work of human authors without citation and that their outputs are not repeatable.)

I have also included the draft of my longer policy for the class in which I will be teaching about generative AI; this includes language about citing use (and distinguishes between researching and analyzing generative AI and using it to complete writing assignments). If any of it is useful for you, feel free to use it. I am also happy to discuss anyone else’s draft policies if you would find that useful.

Sample generative AI policy

Academic integrity is essential for a fair evaluation of your work and that of your classmates, as KU’s policies on academic misconduct make clear. All work submitted in this course must be your own.   

Assignments for this course are designed to help you develop your critical thinking, close reading, research, and writing skills. Submitting other people’s work as your own, repurposing work you have done for other courses without my prior approval and without substantial revision, or using so-called AI tools for your work in this course undermines those goals. In this course, you may not use ChatGPT or other generative AI software for your assignments, including plug-ins or native tools that automatically generate text within word-processing apps. Exceptions include the grammar check and spellcheck options on your word-processing software or Grammarly grammar check (but not GrammarlyGO’s generative text option); these approved tools make suggestions for revising work that you have already generated and may be used with caution and with the understanding that you are, as always, ultimately responsible for the work you generate. If you have questions about what constitutes academic misconduct (plagiarism or unauthorized use of tools or assistance), please ask me before submitting your work.

Draft, full academic integrity policy for my HNRS 190 on generative AI

This course is about so-called generative AI and aims to build literacy in concepts related to those tools, including understanding the ethical and social implications of this technology and what might be appropriate uses for it. It is likely that you will choose to research and analyze generative AI outputs as part of your final project; if you do so, as part of that assignment, you will disclose which tools you have used and explain how you have used them. You should keep a complete, accurate record of your prompts and the model's responses; the name and, where available, version numbers of the model (e.g., Chat GPT 4, Midjourney 5.2, NightCafe SDXL 0.9, Bing Chat Creative Mode); and the dates of your interactions (which will, among other things, help us reconstruct versions for those models that don't provide them, like Bing; but will also provide a more nuanced sense of models that are fine-tuned between version releases). Keeping detailed records is good practice for any course in which the use of generative AI is approved for any portion of an assignment.

Analyzing generative AI tools and their outputs as part of an assignment is not the same as using them to complete your assignments. At this stage in your educational career, I aim to help you develop your critical thinking and research skills, no matter what your chosen disciplines/field(s) of study might be. I am also interested in helping you develop your ability to communicate your thoughts and opinions. For these learning goals in this course, using (rather than analyzing) generative AI in your assignments will not help you gain the competencies you need, and indeed are likely to undermine them.  With this in mind, for writing assignments for this course, you are allowed to use built-in spellcheck, grammar check, or Grammarly (without the generative AI feature) after you have already brainstormed and drafted your work. You should not, however, use any separate, built-in, or plug-in tool or feature that generates text (for example, Wordtune, Google Docs "Help me write," GrammarlyGO generative text, ChatGPT, Claude, Bing, Bard) during the idea-generation or drafting stage of the writing process.  Ultimately, remember that you are responsible for the writing and work you share, no matter what course you are in or platform you use to communicate, so even if you are using approved tools, check your work before submitting it.

Unauthorized use of AI tools in generating work for this course and attempting to pass it off as your own work constitutes plagiarism; but plagiarism is a broader issue and is not dependent upon AI. Some specific examples of actions that constitute plagiarism include pasting together uncredited information or ideas from the internet or published sources; copying the wording of another source without quotation marks--even a few words--to indicate that the language is not your own (even if the source itself is cited); submitting an assignment written by someone else; submitting a paper written for another class without my approval and without substantial revision; and copying another student’s work (even with the student’s permission). In order to avoid unintentional plagiarism and to represent your work honestly, you will need to be meticulous about giving credit to any and all sources, whether directly quoted or paraphrased. 

Plagiarism hurts you as much as it does anyone. If you plagiarize work, you will not be receiving the practice and needed feedback to improve your own critical thinking, research, and communication skills. Plagiarism will generally result in a 0 for the assignment in which the plagiarism was found; I will notify you and make clear my concerns, and you are always welcome to discuss them with me.  All confirmed incidents of plagiarism will be penalized, reported, and kept on file in the English Department, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the University Provost’s Office, which means that the consequences of a second offense are higher. If you have questions, please ask me before submitting your assignment. Asking questions in advance of submission about plagiarism or academic misconduct will not be held against you in any way.

An example from the School of Business

From Scott Bronson, associate professor of business

In this course, I encourage you to leverage generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude) to complement and enhance your learning. When using these tools, it is crucial that you do so in an appropriate, ethical manner.

AI tools should support, not replace, your learning process. Generative AI can be particularly helpful when writing code (e.g., SQL statements). It may also help guide you while creating Alteryx workflows and preparing data visualization in Power BI. While generative AI may assist in several aspects of writing in this class (e.g., checking grammar, editing original text you write, or helping improve clarity and tone), using it for content generation is not an appropriate use for our purposes. AI must not be used to complete quizzes or directly answer questions posed in other graded course content. Your work should reflect your personal understanding and knowledge.

Think critically about all output from AI tools. Generative Al will provide responses with a tone of certainty, even though these responses will often be inaccurate. You bear ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of the content in your submissions.

Acknowledge your use of AI tools in any graded course submissions. Include a descriptive paragraph about Al's role in the submission, share your submitted prompts, and identify the platform(s) used (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, etc.). Inappropriate use of AI or incomplete disclosure of its use constitutes academic misconduct.

Use of AI tools is voluntary. The use of AI tools in this course is completely optional, and you are not required to pay for or use these tools if you choose not to for privacy or other reasons.

If you have questions about whether a particular AI use is appropriate, please contact me to discuss it further. I am here to provide guidance and ensure that we are using these tools effectively and ethically in our learning environment. Remember, the goal is to use Al as a tool for enhancing learning, not as a substitute for critical thinking and understanding.

An example from the School of Nursing

From Maryellen Potts, education assistant professor, KU School of Nursing

This course allows you to use generative AI (GAI) for your assignments. If you choose to use GAI to assist you in any part of your assignments, you must follow these policies:

• Be prepared to support your choice of using GAI for your assignments.
• Indicate and cite any AI-generated or AI-assisted parts of assignments. Use APA 7 student style citation/reference). Identify the GAI source, e.g. ChatGPT 3 or 4 or Bing.
• Don't plagiarize or copy from GAI material; always cite. Be aware that references generated by GAI are often inaccurate.
• Understand that GAI may be biased, harmful, offensive, misleading, and inaccurate. Use critical thinking and judgement when using GAI derived content. Fact-check!
• Be transparent in your use of GAI with peers and instructors.

Disregarding these policies may result in academic consequences. Generative AI is a tool for learning and creativity, not a replacement for your own work.