History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA) students at the University of Edinburgh have received guidance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) text generation software ChatGPT.
An email outlining the guidance, sent on 27 March, comes after a rise in the popularity of ChatGPT in recent months and the resulting need for clarification over students’ possible uses for the software.
The guidance has not imposed a complete ban on the software.
Instead, it stresses the need for students’ work to be original and highlights the limitations of generative AI in its current state.
The new policy reinforces the university’s desire for students to produce their original work.
As such, generating a full assignment using ChatGPT or other AI software will be treated as academic misconduct.
To avoid claims of academic misconduct, generative AI should be cited as “personal communication” in any students’ work, using their desired citation style, in assignments that permit the use of ChatGPT or other software.
Generative AI is a language model that predicts the next plausible word of a sentence through machine learning.
This uses large data sets that contain bias and factual inaccuracies and students should keep this in mind when using such software.
Other concerns about generative AI are noted, with the university warning of possible plagiarism, copyright infringements, amoral behaviour and possibly offensive content that the language models may generate.
If students do not directly quote from generative AI but instead use the software to generate ideas, the university has stipulated such use must be referenced along with a description of how it has been used.
HCA students have been briefed in an email about this new guidance, which highlights that generating an entire assignment using generative AI will be regarded as academic misconduct.
The HCA department notes that there is a possibility that cases may arise where course organisers specifically stipulate that ChatGPT should be used in certain assignment questions.
In all cases where HCA students are not specifically told to use ChatGPT or other software, course organisers should be contacted to ask if using the software would be approved for a specific question, whether it be research or writing the assignment.
If approved; HCA students must, “specify in your assignment where/in which way(s) Generative AI has been used” in similar guidance to the general University Provisions.
Both HCA and the university have particularly highlighted that an over-reliance on AI tools can lead to a lack of learning and developing key skills that students need to succeed in university and beyond.
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