Guide for students: best practice when using Generative AI

How to use Generative AI with integrity

Do

• Ask questions and read the information in your course materials to clarify what is deemed appropriate and inappropriate in your program/s and courses and act within those guidelines.
• If allowed, use generative AI as a research/brainstorming prompt to guide you towards superior, substantiated sources.
• If allowed, use the ANU supported tool, Copilot Enterprise, and log in with your ANU account. 
• Understand how you can use AI to support your study including awareness of the different systems and their benefits and limitations to intelligently and ethically use generative AI. Refer to the Generative AI LibGuide. 
• Remember that all tools you use to assist your study need to be used consistent with the University’s Academic integrity guidance and procedures and ensure that your use of generative AI is consistent with the Academic Integrity best practice principles for learners. 
• Ensure that your use of generative AI does not overlap with recognised breaches of academic integrity (see Types of Academic Misconduct).
• Check the accuracy of all information produced by generative AI by verifying that the information is accurate by searching and confirming with source materials. 
• If information produced by generative AI is allowable within an assessment task
  • Follow the task guidance set by your course convener. This may require you to paraphrase, summarise, or quote as you would any source or provide a reflective response. 
  • Reference as you would any source, following the Generative AI LibGuide. 
  • Acknowledge the specific tools or methods used and how they contributed to completing the assignment piece.
• Do use generative AI consistent with the guidance from your course convenors and the university’s academic integrity requirements.
• Do recognise that different publishers approach AI in different ways. To find out more on publishing and AI, please see the publishing section of the Generative AI LibGuide.

Don't

• Do not use generative AI for assessment tasks when the course summary identifies, or your course convener advises, that it should not be used.
• Do not present material produced by generative AI as your own work, as this is an academic integrity breach.
• Do not use text produced by generative AI as a substitute for your own research and writing.
• Do not accept the output of generative AI without verifying that the information is accurate by searching and confirming with source materials.
• Do not neglect to reference use of generative AI in assignments.
• Do not put your personal information into a system which may breach your privacy.
• Do not put your unpublished research into a system which may feed into generative AI data. 

FAQs

Can I use Generative AI for my assessment?

Generative AI may be explicitly limited in some courses and actively encouraged in others. You should look first at course summaries and assessment outlines for any AI requirements in the course. The course’s Learning Management System (LMS) Wattle site will likely include reasoning for including or excluding the use of generative AI and outline how students in the course can ethically and appropriately make use of generative AI in their study and assessment items. If you are unsure, speak to your course convener for clarification. You can also book an appointment with Academic Skills to discuss how to use generative AI in line with your convener’s advice.

The ANU Academic Integrity Rule 2021 does not currently address generative AI; however, this Generative AI LibGuide identifies how generative AI can be cited as an information source. Copilot Enterprise is currently the main ANU endorsed tool for staff and students to use as it ensures privacy and accessibility. Generative AI use is increasing in industry, meaning it is important that students develop critical literacy skills with emerging digital tools. Due to the diversity of assessments and disciplines at ANU, applications of generative AI - and hence what is deemed appropriate - may differ across disciplines.  

How do I use generative AI responsibly and ethically?

Overall, generative AI is a permissible learning tool in higher education and can be cited as an information source. However, it is important to note the following:

• Generative AI is not a replacement for your thinking and originality of your ideas, arguments and creative output.
• Information produced by generative AI may be incorrect, unsubstantiated, or out of date.
• Generative AI is not an academic source, so it may be inappropriate to cite or use in an assignment.

Therefore, relying on or using generative AI as a shortcut to learning carries the risk of undermining your work and credibility as a researcher. Remember, assignment work is not simply creating an end product, but developing a suite of skills in time and workload management, critical thinking, reading and library research, and academic writing along the way that will serve you across your degree and in your future careers.

If generative AI is used in developing an assignment or content produced by generative AI content is used in an assignment, it must be appropriately acknowledged. For guidance about citing generative AI see the Generative AI LibGuide. Your course convener may provide specific instructions on how to acknowledge and declare the use of generative AI when it has been used as a tool in producing an assignment piece.

There are overlaps between actions considered breaches of academic integrity (see Types of Academic Misconduct) and use of generative AI. In particular:

• Plagiarism - when we submit words or ideas copied, in part or whole, from other sources without acknowledgment
• Ghost writing/contract cheating - when we submit work written or rewritten by another party, in part or whole, as our own.

Therefore, it is important to ensure we continue to research and write with integrity when using generative AI, as we would any source. Generative AI can support the research and writing process but should not substitute the research and especially the thinking and writing process. The principles of academic integrity also apply to all modes of generative AI including text, audio and visual content generation.

Which Generative AI tools should I choose?

The following tools are available for ANU staff and students through enterprise licences that ensure privacy and accessibility.

• Copilot Enterprise is available for all ANU staff and students by signing in with an ANU account. The main benefit of using CoPilot with an ANU account is that personal and company data is protected.  
• Adobe Firefly is a generative AI image tool that allows ANU staff and students to create AI images from text, perform generative fill (such as removing objects or adding new ones), text effects and many others. Firefly’s model is trained on the dataset of Adobe Stock, meaning the content is openly licensed and/or in the public domain where copyright has expired. Currently there are limited enterprise licences that are allocated to ANU students but there is also a free version of the tool available.  

Using generative AI tools without ANU enterprise licences carries risks. While these tools may be convenient and helpful, ANU cannot guarantee your data security in these cases. Some tools also require you to create an account, and the reliability, accuracy and compliance with ethical standards of these tools cannot be guaranteed.