Use of generative artificial intelligence for students

1. Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) touches our lives on a daily basis, even though we may not be fully aware of it. Facial recognition to unlock your smartphone, predictive text in messaging apps, auto-complete suggestions on Google search, online customer support chatbots, recommendations from Netflix or Amazon on what to watch or buy next, and what you see as you swipe through your social media feeds. These are all reliant on AI. 

More recently there has been significant attention given to generative AI (GAI) tools. These tools can generate writing on pretty much any topic, generate code and presentations, artwork, graphics, video, and audio. There are many GAI tools such as:

• Microsoft’s Copilot
• ChatGPT
• Google Gemini
• Claude
• Perplexity.ai
• DALL-E

These tools are developing and evolving at a rapid rate and have the potential to be transformative. It is essential that our staff and students have the skills and knowledge to navigate the world of GAI and understand how it can be applied. 

2. Purpose of guidance

It is against this backdrop of growing interest in the adoption of GAI that we have prepared this guidance to help our student community understand how it can be used appropriately. Our aim is to help students appreciate both the limitations of GAI and the ethical and data implications of using these technologies. It is not feasible for the University to impose a blanket restriction on the use of GAI, rather we seek to promote the discerning, transparent and ethical use of it. 

3. Review

As GAI is increasingly integrated into commonly used digital tools we will regularly review and update this guidance to ensure it remains up to date.

4. Using GAI to support your learning

One of the attractions of GAI technologies is their potential to support learning as they respond to specific prompts and questioning. Whilst a Google search generates a list of websites with content relevant to your search prompt, GAI will generate a written answer in response to your question that simulates natural conversation. The content it generates can help provide overviews of topics, concepts, theories etc., much as a Wikipedia article might help you develop your initial understanding of a topic. However, just as with Wikipedia it is important to appreciate the limitations of GAI as well as some of the risks associated with its use.

5. Limitations of GAI

It is important to appreciate that artificial intelligence is not the same as human intelligence. AI tools do not understand the content they generate and cannot validate the accuracy of it. These tools are trained on content and rely on pattern recognition to predict what strings of words and sentences should be generated next. 

Key points to be aware of include: 

• Whilst the outputs of GAI can appear to be well written and credible, AI tools do get things wrong and therefore you cannot rely on them for factual accuracy. You may see these called “hallucinations” in some discussions about AI tools. 
• It is not uncommon for AI tools to make up references and citations that are completely fictitious, that don’t exist. You won’t find these articles or texts in our Library collections or the wider internet.
• GAI tools tend to perform better in subjects which are widely written about and do worse in specialist areas. The data models on which they are trained are also not up-to-date. 
• AI can replicate human bias and discrimination, perpetuating particular stereotypes and perspectives associated with the Global West. 
• It is important to review and check the content that GAI presents. It can sound convincing and plausible, so it is essential to apply your critical thinking skills and check the accuracy of what it presents. 

Your lecturers will have curated resource lists of textbooks, journal articles, web-based articles, videos, and collections of artefacts that are accessible via your modules in My Dundee. These are all reliable and have been selected to support the learning outcomes of your programme. Our Library subject guides also provide more details of how to search and access discipline specific collections and databases.

6. Impact of overreliance on GAI tools

Relying too heavily on, or overusing, GAI will limit your own learning and the development of core skills which many employers are looking for in graduates. Skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, analytical skills, and critical reflection may be inhibited. Such concerns have already been raised by UK-based students in Jisc’s report on Student perceptions of generative AI: "Students express concerns about the potential negative consequences of relying too heavily on generative AI tools, as it could impede their intellectual growth. They worry that an excessive reliance on such tools may lead to a decline in knowledge acquisition and hinder the development of critical thinking skills."

Use GAI to support your learning and personal development, not to do your learning for you.

7. Privacy, ethics and risks of using GAI tools

There are thousands of GAI tools, and new ones are appearing every day. Before you sign up to use any of these GAI tools it is important to carefully read the terms and conditions and not blindly accept them. Take time to read and understand how these tools might use your personal data, and the data you might share with the tool to prompt answers. Think carefully about any potential risks, ethical and privacy issues, as well as benefits before you sign up. This is particularly important for free GAI tools, these tools are rarely genuinely free, they often make money by using or selling your data.

Be aware that:

• Sharing personal or sensitive data in an AI platform, just as with social media, has the potential for it become publicly available. This also applies to any research data or intellectual property that you may share. You should ensure that you do not share personal data (yours, or anyone else’s), nor confidential university material. 
• GAI does not respect copyright or credit the sources that it has been trained on. This is more apparent in relation to creative works in art and literature and in computer code, and there are a number of pending lawsuits against GAI companies for breach of copyright. Using copyrighted material in this way could land you in trouble. 
• GAI companies train their models on content that we submit, this in turn helps them generate income. 
• There are concerns that some of these platforms have adopted exploitative and unethical practices to cleanse their data of violent and hateful content by employing individuals in developing countries who have been traumatised by the content they have had to vet. 
• Concerns also prevail about the environmental impact of GAI. These technologies have high energy and water requirements. 
• You do not have to use these tools if you do not wish to. 
• Misuse of these GAI tools may result in academic misconduct.

8. Acceptable uses of GAI

Some examples of how you might use GAI to support your learning include: 

• Supporting research into a topic or concept to help develop initial understanding and insight. The answers that GAI presents are based on material which can be found on the internet. 
• Help with drafting ideas or suggesting how you might structure your own written materials. 
• Generating graphics, images, and other visual content to support a presentation, or for inclusion in a report. 
• Summarising longer texts and documents to help you check your own understanding of the key messages and concepts presented. 
• Generating questions from an article/text to help check your understanding and recall of key concepts and learning points. 
• Using it as a conversational or debating partner to develop your ideas and thinking. 
• Helping to improve your grammar or writing structure, this may be particularly helpful if English is your second language. 
• Debugging code. 
• Helping to keep you motivated and overcome writer’s block by asking it to generate initial ideas that you can reflect and build on. 
• Suggesting aspects you may have omitted. This can be particularly valuable if you prefer to start planning/writing yourself, before using AI.

9. GAI and assessment

Academic integrity is central to the University’s core values of valuing people, working together, integrity, making a difference, and excellence. 

The expectation is that the work you submit for your assessments is solely your own work, or in the case of group work, solely the work of your group. This work is a means for you to demonstrate what you have learned.

Using GAI to write the text, code, or generate the designs and artwork for your assessment would not be submitting your own work. 

If your lecturers have made clear in your assessment brief that you may use GAI sources in your work then you must be transparent in acknowledging, describing, and referencing how you have used it. Contact your module leader if you are unsure whether you are permitted to use any AI tools in your submission. 

If you are unsure about evaluating the accuracy of the content that AI has generated: 

• Contact the lecturer (they are subject matter experts) 
• Contact the Academic Librarian Team (they are information evaluation and referencing experts)

10. Acknowledging the use of GAI in your work

It is important to acknowledge the use of GAI tools in your work and to be clear about how you have used them. You should therefore include a statement of acknowledgement and a description of how you have used GAI and the information generated.

Statement of acknowledgement

Please include the statement that reflects how you have used any GAI tools from one of the following:

• No content generated by AI technologies has been presented as my own work. 
• I acknowledge the use of [AI tool] to generate materials for background research and self-study in the drafting of this assessment. 
• I acknowledge the use of [AI tool] to structure or plan this assessment. 
• I acknowledge the use of [AI tool] to generate materials that were included within my final assessment in modified form. 
• I acknowledge the use of [AI tool] to generate materials that were included in my final assessment in unmodified form. An example of this would be a quote or image produced by the AI output.

Description of how information or material was generated

You must describe how the information or material was generated, what the output was and how the output was modified by you using the following format: 

• The following prompts were input into (name of AI tool: [Provide details]) 
• The output obtained was: (Paste the full output generated by the AI tool) 
• The output was changed and adapted by me in the following ways: (explain how you adapted the output for use in your work)

Keeping a record of how you have created your work

If staff have concerns that you have used AI to support you creating coursework, in ways that are not permitted, they may invite you to an interview to discuss your work. Part of this may include asking you to explain how the work was created, or about particular decisions you made. 

For all coursework we recommend: 

• Use Word/Powerpoint, saving it in OneDrive as this will ensure that all your versions are retained. (This is also a useful backup in case of your laptop failing) 
• If you use Pages, ensure you save versions on a regular basis. 
• If you’re more of a pen and paper planner, keep the plans you have made. 
• In all cases, remember to keep information about what you’ve excluded, as well as included, so that you can talk about this.

11. Referencing GAI

Not all referencing styles require you to cite GAI in your work, but most do. If you are unsure which referencing style to use, contact your tutor.  

CiteThemRight – AI guidance

(University login required if off campus)

As content generated by GAI is non-recoverable, it cannot be retrieved or linked to in the way that other resources can. If the recommended style for your subject area has not yet got guidance, we recommend that AI generated content should be cited as a personal communication as an in-text citation.

In-text citation

This is an example using Harvard guidance: When prompted by the author, ChatGPT responded with a ‘definition of academic integrity’ (OpenAI ChatGPT, 2023). A copy of this response is in Appendix 1.

Reference list

OpenAI ChatGPT (2023) ChatGPT response to John Stephens, 2 April. 

If you are not sure about referencing AI generated content, contact the Academic Librarian Team.

12. The AI assessment scale

The AI assessment scale can be used to support both staff and students in their use of AI within assessment.

Creative Commons: Perkins, Furze, Roe & MacVaugh (2024) - The AI Assessment Scale

Generative Artificial Intelligence can be a very powerful tool, when used effectively. However, it has its limitations. As a student, you need to ensure that you have both the skill sets that a future employer would expect, as well as the ability to use GenAI effectively in your field. Practice and guidance in the use of GAI is evolving rapidly and is likely to change over time. 

You should regularly check back and review this guide to ensure that your practice is in line with the most up-to-date advice from the University.

Acknowledgement: This guidance is informed by and builds on guidance developed by UCL, Heriot Watt University and Napier University.