Student Guide to AI & ChatGPT

Is using ChatGPT considered cheating?

Does UA have a policy on using ChatGPT?
The University of Arizona does not currently have a policy on the use of ChatGPT. However, instructors may have policies on how ChatGPT may or may not be used in classroom assignments. If your instructor doesn't have a written policy or hasn't stated whether generative AI can be used for assignments, ask.

Tips for talking about generative AI with your instructors
The best time to talk with your instructor is before you begin your assignment to avoid needing to start over if generative AI isn't allowed.

Be specific in how you plan to use generative AI. Would you like to use ChatGPT to help brainstorm ideas or come up with a topic for your assignment? Are you using it to summarize or explain complex concepts? Or do you plan to use it for writing and editing? Be prepared that your instructor may approve some use cases but not others.

Have a plan for giving credit. APA Style, MLA Style, and Chicago Style all have guidelines for citing generative AI. Your instructor may also ask for an appendix that includes the prompts that you provided to ChatGPT or the full transcript of your interaction.

What is academic integrity?

Academic integrity refers to maintaining a standard of honest and ethical behavior in all types of academic work. This includes things like not cheating on exams or turning in a term paper that you didn't write yourself. It also includes plagiarism, or not giving proper credit to other people's ideas or work. All students are subject to CCBC's Student Code of Conduct. To learn more, review CCBC's Student Conduct page or contact someone from Student Conduct and consult the library's guide on how to avoid plagiarism.

Please refrain from presenting AI-generated material as your own original work. While certain assignments might allow you to leverage AI to enhance your creative capabilities, it should not replace genuine creative thinking, especially in an educational setting. Whenever you incorporate content generated by AI, remember to include proper citations. This way, instructors can easily trace the sources of the AI-generated content.

What to do if you are falsely accused of cheating with generative AI

Some instructors might use tools that claim to be able to detect whether a text was written by generative AI. However, those tools are not accurate. They give both false negatives and false positives.

Dr. Lyndon Walker gives some useful advice in this video: What to do if you are falsely accused of cheating with AI.