Artificial intelligence tools

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) tools can generate content on any topic based on questions that the user inputs to the tool. It us usually in the form of a chat bot which simulates a natural conversation.

Each tool has been trained on an immense quantity of data, and they generate content by predicting the next most likely word in a given topic. They can develop well-structured paragraphsor longer work of text, or code. These tools continue to learn from user inputs and are regularly updated with recent information from the internet. They are very easy to use and available in a browser or as apps on mobile phones.

Specialised Gen AI tools can create images, music and video.They work in a similar way but based on image/shape recognition in combination with natural language processing of a user’s request.
Increasingly, AI is being integrated into other tools, so you may not even be aware when you are using it.

The short answer is that it depends.

The University does not ban the use of Gen AI by students. There are lots of benefits of engaging with Gen AI tools in your studies, such as brainstorming ideas, refining questions, self-organisation, checking grammar and spelling in writing etc. Depending on your area of study and professional work, there may be specialist applications of AI which are an important skill to develop for employment. These will be addressed within your modules and programme.

However, there is a line where use of Gen AI is considered ‘cheating’ or academic misconduct. It is not acceptable when:

a) You submit Gen AI content in an assessment as if it is your own work (undeclared use of Gen AI)
b) You declare your use of Gen AI, but the Gen AI content replaces the learning, thinking or skills that the assessment is designed to assess (declared, but inappropriate use of Gen AI)

The Edinburgh Napier University Academic Regulations clearly state that submitting work which is not your own is academic misconduct and a form of cheating. The penalties imposed for academic misconduct reflect the seriousness of this conduct. Being found to have committed academic misconduct has potentially severe consequences for your studies and future employment.

For this reason, you are required to submit an AI declaration form on Moodle for every assessment which includes information if and how you have used Gen AI. If it is not clear how to do this, ask your module leader.

The question to ask yourself any time you open a Gen AI tool to use it is:

Is using this tool stopping me from learning or developing a skill which I am expected to demonstrate in this module?

If you are not sure about your expected learning, refer to the module learning outcomes available under Module Information in Moodle and the assessment brief, or ask your module leader.

If you are under pressure with an assessment and are thinking about using an Gen AI tool to do it for you, there are other means of support including:

• Your Module Leader, Module tutors or Programme Leader
  Your Personal Development Tutor
• Academic Skills team
• Wellbeing and Inclusion Team
• ENSA Academic Misconduct Advice

They can discuss your circumstances and advise you on how best to move forward with your studies without reverting to academic misconduct that may impact on your future studies and employability.

This is an understandable concern. You can:

1. Keep drafts and notes as you work. Save file versions with dates, take photos of handwritten work and take screenshots with timestamps.
2. Keep a record of your sources and carefully document your research, making sure you know where ideas and quotations came from, including those from Gen AI.
3. Be able to talk about your assessment work, your understanding of what you submitted, and how you went about preparing it.
4. Check the settings on the tools you use, and turn off generative features which may be on by default.
5. Be careful with tools that re-write your text. If a tool changes the wording, style and tone of your writing, it may no longer accurately represent your learning, and raise questions that the work is not your own.
6. If an assessment is not clear, consult the assessment brief or ask you module leader via email for clarification.
7. If a concern is raised about the Academic Integrity of your work, you will have an opportunity to explain and provide evidence.

Gen AI writing tools work on language prediction model; they cannot think for themselves. This means that the tool might write a very plausible answer with correct spelling and grammar and present it as a ‘fact’, but it may be untrue or biased. So, if you rely on a Gen AI tool, you risk using and repeating untrue or biased information. As with other kinds of information from the internet it is essential to think carefully about where the information has come from and seek other reliable sources to fact check.

There is also growing evidence that overreliance on GenAI tools can lead to loss of skills and missed opportunities to learn.

Before using any tool not provided by the university you should read the terms and conditions carefully. Free tools often make money through advertising, taking your personal data and using or selling it, or gradually reducing the quality or access to the free tool to force to you start paying. Think carefully and critically about the risks, benefits and ethics before you make use of any technology, including AI content generation tools.

Never give your own or other’s personal information (name, health information, photos of faces etc.) to Gen AI.

It is not permitted for you to upload any teaching materials (lecture slides, lecture recordings, assessment briefs) to any external tool, including Gen AI. Additionally, you should always ensure that you have the permission of the owner of copyrighted work, such as academic papers or books before uploading to an external tool, including Gen AI.

No, you don’t have to use Gen AI tools. The University’s Position Statement makes it clear that no student is required to sign up to and use a Gen AI tool, and that alternative means to engage with tasks will be provided.

Many people view Gen AI as problematic. Recent research has shown students in Scotland object to Gen AI use in their university for the following reasons;

• The negative environmental impact of the development and use of these tools, including water and energy consumption, and the negative impact on communities where large data centres are located.
• The unfair and unethical way many AI companies have taken the work of others (writers, musicians, artists, content creators) and reused it without permission or acknowledgement
• Use of Gen AI tools can lead to loss of skills or learning, or never developing them in the first place.
• Because of biases in the data, Gen AI tools can provide answers which perpetuate racism, sexism, ableism, and other harmful forms of discrimination.
• The labour practices of the companies that develop these tools can be problematic, including exploitation in the Global South to provide human checking for harmful content.
• Gen AI tools can still provide inaccurate or false information.
• Some students do not agree with any use of Gen AI within education, whether used by students or lecturers.
• Concerns about the privacy and security of personal data being given to these tools and the companies behind the tools.
• Gen AI tools are designed to be highly attractive to use, often using flattery to keep users engaged. This can lead to perpetuating misconceptions or, in extreme cases, negatively impacting users’ mental health and wellbeing.

We provide students with engaging, real-world learning opportunities to equip you for lives and careers in a global digital world. Gen AI and other forms of artificial intelligence are already a part the workplace. This is why we encourage you to think critically about the implications of digital tools for your studies, your current learning and your future lives.

We also recognise the potential for these tools to empower you in your own learning and, when used responsibility, make learning more inclusive and accessible. We aim to provide every student with the support to engage with a range of learning opportunities during your studies, thereby reducing the likelihood of any student choosing to miss out on the learning involved in creating your own work for assessments and instead submitting the output of Gen AI. We have been actively engaged in gathering students' opinions on Gen AI since 2023, and will continue to do so, using this evidence to inform our guidance.

Edinburgh Napier University’s position statement on Gen AI outlines our shared commitment to ethical and responsible use. Student responsibilities are outlined below, but you can read the full document for details on the responsibilities of the University Leadership, academic staff, professional services staff etc.

Our Collective Responsibilities

• We all are responsible for understanding the ethical implications of Gen AI, including its impacts on academic integrity, personal and institutional data, misinformation, bias, copyright, equity, and the environment.
• Staff and students are expected to declare when they directly use AI-generated content.
• DLTE provides support and training in Gen AI for staff and students, and we should all maintain a level of critical awareness to make informed decisions about its use.
• Anyone processing personal data on behalf of the University is required to comply with the University Data Protection Policy when using any Gen AI tools.

Students’ Responsibilities (Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate)

• You have a personal responsibility to think critically about the ethical implications of Gen AI as part of your learning, including its environmental impact, bias, misinformation, and data privacy. Engage with MyNapier’s Artificial intelligence tools page.
• You are responsible for ensuring your work reflects your own thinking, skills, and understanding.
• If you use Gen AI tools in your learning or assessments, you must follow university guidance and acknowledge AI-generated content.
• Misrepresenting AI-generated work as your own is academic misconduct and may result in an academic integrity investigation. The outcome of such an investigation may have significant implications for your future studies and negatively impact your personal development and future career prospects.
• You should be familiar with the Academic Integrity Regulations and Student Community Code [LD1].
• If you are unsure about permissible use of Gen AI in your assessments, check the Assessment Brief and ask your module leader/tutor.
• If you are under pressure trying to complete an assessment and are thinking about inappropriately using an Gen AI tool to do it for you, you should avoid this and seek out other means of support, including your module leader/tutor, your PDT, the Academic Skills team, Wellbeing and Inclusion Team, ENSA.

• You may not upload teaching materials, such as lecture slides, lecture recordings or assessment briefs, to Gen AI tools unless you have your module leader’s permission to do so.
  
  
• You may not upload copyrighted materials, such as journal articles or books, to Gen AI tools unless you have the author’s or publication’s permission to do so or, b) you are using a tool provided to you as a reasonable adjustment for your disability.

Students’ Responsibilities (Postgraduate Research)

• Postgraduate research is founded on the three pillars of independence, originality and significance. Ensure that any use of Gen AI in your studies does not compromise your ability to undertake research that achieves these three pillars.
• Share your research writing with your supervisors regularly during your studies and always discuss any intended use of Gen AI with them first.
• You have a personal and professional responsibility as a researcher to think critically about the ethical implications of Gen AI use in research, including its environmental impact, bias, misinformation, and data privacy.
• Misrepresenting AI-generated work as your own is academic misconduct and may result in an academic integrity investigation. The outcome of such an investigation may have significant implications for your future studies and negatively impact your personal development and future career prospects.
• Any use of Gen AI in the process and writing-up of your research should be clearly acknowledged.

Your final thesis should be your own work, not AI-generated content.

With Gen AI tools such as Chat-GPT widely available and expected to continue to develop quickly, as will our societal and legal responses to the technology. The below guidance is based on current, available technologies. Many of the points below are prompts to think, not hard and fast rules.

Points of Consideration

1. Postgraduate research at the University is founded on three golden pillars: independence, originality and significance. When using Gen AI tools, consider:
   
   1. Can Gen AI produced text ever be considered original?
   2. If an algorithm is producing the text, in what sense could you claim to have produced it independently?
   3. And if the work is not original, how does it contribute significantly to knowledge?
      
      
2. Gen AI tools, like ChatGPT, work by analysing material to predict and generate content based on prompts. They do not create new ideas, but rely on patterns in pre-existing data.
   
   Therefore their limitations are:
   
   1. These tools are not designed to generate genuinely new ideas
   2. As postgraduate research requires the development of new ideas, the use of Gen AI models as tools for this purpose is limited.
      
      
3. The current UK laws governing copyright do not fully address Gen AI, which creates legal uncertainty. As Gen AI models often rely on copyrighted works:
   
   1. Outputs from Gen AI will constitute plagiarism, even where it is not directly copied.
   2. Use of such content in your thesis may constitute plagiarism.
      
      
4. All of our research postgraduate degrees (excluding MRes) are examined by viva voce.
   
   
   1. Significant use of Gen AI produced text runs the risk of entering an examination without a solid understanding of the material in your own thesis.
   2. This could lead to a fail, whether or not plagiarism can be demonstrated.
      
      
5. Gen AI tools can support research for gathering information and brainstorming, and while the results may look different to those produced by conventional search engines, they are no more ‘intelligent’, original or accurate. Despite the term ‘artificial intelligence’, these technologies are not capable of thought in the sense that we expect it to be demonstrated in your work.
   
   Put simply:
   1. While Gen AI models may be able to help you find potentially relevant information, provide a prompt for thought or guidance,
   2. They cannot do the work of critical thinking for you.
      
      
6. All RPG students are expected to meet regularly with their supervisors and:

1. Share their writing throughout their studies.
2. Discuss any intended use of Gen AI with supervisors early So your supervisors can provide advice and guidance.

Guidance

If you choose to use Generative AI tools to assist in any stage of your research, you must follow the below guidance.

1. Appropriately cite any text or output generated by AI in your thesis, as you would any other sources.
2. Clearly indicate where in AI-generated material is included your thesis. Options include a narrative account in your introduction or a detailed appendix.
3. Gen AI tools have limitations; always use them in conjunction with other sources to ensure the credibility and reliability of the information you present.
4. Ensure the final product is your own work, and not copied from an Gen AI tool, like Chat GPT. You may use generated text as a prompt for inspiration or guidance, but the final submitted assessment must be your work, your creation, and your own analysis.

Statement of Generative AI Use

In addition to the optional inclusion of a reflective narrative of the use of Gen AI as suggested above, all students are required to make a declaration of their use of Gen AI in their thesis, including in the course of the research reported in the thesis.

Have you utilised any generative AI tools in your thesis, including the research which forms the basis of your thesis?

YES / NO

If yes, please provide a brief account of your use of such Gen AI tools.

(The above guidance is drawn in part from guidance developed by Deakin University, Australia)

The Skills hub provides a wide range of support to help you develop key academic skills including:

• Academic Integrity
• Referencing Guidelines
• ENSA Academic Misconduct Advice
• Academic Skills team
• Wellbeing and Inclusion Team
• LibGuides Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Literature Searching