Student Learning with Generative AI
Student Generative AI Guide
*Adapted from General Principles for Use of AI from The University of Sydney for students by students Generative AI course (Further Resources).
Academic integrity, ethics, critical thinking, and creative thinking should foreground your use of generative AI for learning. Below are some general principles to consider when using generative AI in your studies.
Follow Your Instructor’s Guidance For Each Course
- Follow your instructor’s guidance on how generative AI tools can be used for your course or assignments.
- Ensure that any use of generative AI has been acknowledged according to the syllabus or assignment guidelines.
- Maintain academic integrity.
Document Your Process And Use Of Generative AI When Completing Assignments Using Generative AI
- Save copies of each step to create a record that can be shared with your instructors to facilitate conversations about your work. For example, keep copies of your previous drafts before and after interacting with generative AI.
Ensure that your final work is your own and is not simply copied and pasted from a generative AI tool
- Your own style and voice should be evident.
- Simply rephrasing AI-generated content is not enough for it to be considered your own work! You must still apply your own critical and creative thinking to ensure learning.
- Foreground intellectual virtues and beware of cognitive biases from the Open Inquiry Toolkit.
Fact-check and Cross-Verify Any Information You Use From Generative AI
- Note the limitations of generative AI, most notably that content generated by AI may be biased, made up, inaccurate, not up to date, etc.
- Apply critical thinking at all times! It is important to fact-check and cross-verify any information generative AI gives you.
- Using generative AI is not the same as using a search engine.
Think for yourself
- Form your own perspectives and points of view. Do not rely solely on information generated by generative AI tools.
Prepare yourself for the future of work
- "AI won't take your job," Richard Baldwin, an economist and professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland, said during a panel at the 2023 World Economic Forum's Growth Summit. "It's somebody using AI that will take your job."