AI Guidelines for Students

In these guidelines, “using AI” refers to engaging digital tools that generate, revise, analyze, summarize, translate, recommend, or otherwise produce content or decisions through machine learning or automated pattern recognition. This includes widely recognized GenAI systems (e.g., text, image, audio, or code generators), as well as AI-powered features embedded within common software platforms, such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud.

AI use is not limited to standalone chatbots. Many everyday tools—search engines, grammar checkers, citation managers, translation apps, design software, and coding assistants—now include AI-driven components. If a tool changes the content, structure, or ideas in your academic work, it likely counts as AI use.

At the same time, not all digital assistance involves AI. Spelling and grammar check, formatting tools, and calculators differ from systems that generate new language, arguments, or creative content. Because the boundaries are not always clear, students should consider whether a tool contributes intellectual work to an assignment.

At Commonwealth University, expectations for AI use vary by field, instructor, and task. AI tools are used differently across academic disciplines, courses, and types of assignments, and understanding these differences is essential to responsible use.

Some courses may encourage AI as a brainstorming or drafting aid, while others may restrict or prohibit its use in order to promote skill development and ensure professional standards or accreditation requirements are met. Different fields value different skills and ways of thinking.

If expectations are unclear, ask your instructor before using AI.

AI can help clarify difficult ideas or review material after you have engaged with it, but it should not replace assigned readings. Reading develops skills such as analysis, interpretation, close attention, and evaluating evidence that AI-generated summaries cannot provide. Using summaries in place of assigned readings bypasses important cognitive work and limits your ability to participate meaningfully in class discussions, complete assignments, and develop lasting understanding.

Human input is essential because AI cannot think the way people do. AI systems generate responses based on data patterns, not from an understanding of course content, disciplinary expectations, or learning goals. Your role as a student is to engage with the material, evaluate information, and decide what is accurate, appropriate, and meaningful. Simply copying and pasting AI-generated responses undermines this process and diminishes your education.

Instructors design courses to develop your knowledge, skills, and abilities. These outcomes cannot be outsourced. When permitted, AI may assist with part of an assignment, but it cannot replace your responsibility to learn material. You are accountable for all work you submit, including errors or misunderstandings. AI-assisted work is meaningful only when subject to human input and review.

Critical engagement with AI requires understanding how its responses are produced. AI systems generate answers by identifying patterns in large datasets, which may contain bias, misrepresentation, gaps, or outdated information. AI-generated content may sound authoritative but may be incomplete or inaccurate. Because information entered into AI tools may be stored or reused, think carefully about what you share, particularly private or sensitive data about yourself or others.

AI tools do not understand context, disciplinary expectations, and ethical implications the way humans do. They often oversimplify complex issues, overlook important perspectives, reinforce weak arguments, lack concrete detail, fail to provide examples, or integrate irrelevant material or content otherwise not introduced by the instructor. Therefore, AI output should never be accepted without evaluation and verification. You are responsible for checking accuracy, confirming sources, and ensuring your work aligns with course expectations. AI may support your learning, but it cannot replace informed human judgment and critical thinking.

AI has significant effects on the environment. Training and operating large AI models require substantial computing power, which consumes significant energy and water. Intensive resource demands in turn contribute to carbon emissions and strain local resources, including clean water and electricity. Students should be aware these costs, even if they may be invisible to users.

AI also has a considerable social impact. AI systems depend on human labor and global supply chains. Workers collect, label, and moderate data, sometimes under onerous conditions. Data moderation may involve viewing disturbing images, which can take a toll on people. AI systems may reinforce inequities when communities or perspectives are underrepresented in training data. 

Responsible AI use involves awareness of these impacts and thoughtful decisions about when and how to use these tools.

Unless expressly permitted by a faculty member, use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other online services for the creation of content for any exam or assignment.

Submitting AI-generated work as your own is unethical and a violation of academic integrity. Deceptive use of GenAI may also involve, but is not limited to, other types of conduct outlined in Policy 1-02. Any of the following may result in an academic dishonesty charge, with sanctions ranging from no credit on an assignment to outright failure of a course; students should not expect an opportunity to re-do an assignment.

Using notes, study aids, or information on an examination or assignment which are not approved by faculty.

Students must not use AI-generated material in a course without the instructor’s advance permission; this guideline is fundamental to all others. Check course syllabi and assignment instructions for stipulations regarding AI, and when in doubt, consult your professor.

Falsifying or inventing any information, data, or citation.

GenAI is prone to “hallucinating,” or creating false information that may sound authentic. Students are ultimately responsible for everything they submit, regardless of where it originates. Carefully verify the accuracy of all AI-generated content: fact check your work and verify all your research sources. Fabrication of evidence is a serious breach of academic integrity.

Inclusion of a particular idea or term which one has obtained from another source, and which is presented as one’s own opinion or idea; Submitting material that in part or whole is not one's own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source; weaving into the text random writings of others without proper identification of the sources.

Students’ prompts may be their own, but the resulting AI-generated output is not and must not be presented as original work. Keep in mind AI is built on the intellectual property of others, including audio, data, digital materials, ideas, video, visual representations, and words. Confirm AI output is not a direct copy of another’s work and be sure to properly cite and document AI sources.

Presenting a professor (verbally or in writing) with false or incomplete information.

Failure to disclose AI use in oral and written work, including class discussion, constitutes misrepresentation. Be honest about AI use.

Undertaking activity with the purpose of creating or obtaining an unfair academic advantage over other students' academic work.

Grades must be earned through individual effort. Unless all students are given the same opportunity, it is unfair for a student to use AI to try to get a better grade, especially advanced models that require a paid subscription.

Providing material, information, or other assistance to another person with knowledge that such aid could be used in any of the violations stated above; providing false information in connection with any inquiry regarding academic integrity.

Students should not promote, conceal, or collude with others in fraudulent use of AI. Do not be an accessory to academic dishonesty.

Do not use AI without instructor permission. Keep in mind AI use includes a wide variety of tools, and AI functions are increasingly embedded in search engines and common software applications. Carefully read course syllabi and assignments to see whether AI use is permitted, restricted, or prohibited. Just because AI is allowed in one course or assignment does not mean it will be in others. If you are uncertain, always ask your instructor first. Do not assume it will be acceptable or that you will have an opportunity to redo an assignment. In legal circles, ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking the law: it is your responsibility to know and follow the rules.

Responsible AI use requires transparency: in other words, you must clearly show that you used AI. If you have instructor permission to use AI, determine how best to disclose its use. It should be readily apparent to all readers that AI was in some way involved in your work. For some instructors on some assignments, this may be as simple as including an attribution statement, such as “Developed after a brainstorming session with ChatGPT” or “Revised and edited for mechanics and style with Grammarly.” A short statement may describe how AI supported your work. Others may require you to list the tool used and the type of assistance provided (what you used it for, where you used it, and extent of use). Still others may ask you to reflect on how AI influenced your process or decisions.

Once you have instructor permission and have determined how to disclose AI use, make sure to carefully and accurately document every instance of AI in your academic work. This includes your in-text citations (quotations and paraphrases in the text of your work) and your bibliographic citations (your list of sources, sometimes called References or Works Cited).

Most citation formats, including Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) style, offer comprehensive guidelines for citing artificial intelligence. Because of the rapid pace of AI development, however, you should not rely on published handbooks. Instead, consult your style’s website for current recommendations, making certain to go directly to the original rather than a third-party site, such as a university library. 

For example, the MLA “How do I cite generative AI in MLA Style?”, first published in 2023, was updated in August 2025. Similarly, as of September 2025, APA has published three posts on citing GenAI in APA Style:

• Part 1 – Reference formats
• Part 2 – AI as a search engine and AI integrated into common software
• Part 3 – Is  AI “allowed” in APA Style?

These and other style guidelines will continue to be revised and updated over time. 

Each, however, offers valuable suggestions for documenting AI use. MLA, for example, recommends specifying a tool’s version number (such as GPT-4o), and when citing an AI conversation, prefers a stable URL to a general link to the tool. MLA provides a template as well as examples for paraphrased text, quoted text, creative visual works, creative textual works, and secondary sources used by AI.

APA stipulates writers cannot list AI as an author but must disclose AI use in manuscripts. APA offers guidance for citing an AI chat, citing an AI tool generally, and documenting prompts. Rather than providing version number, APA recommends adding model name (such as ChatGPT-4-turbo) if available. APA also advises against citing common software that incorporates AI: since use of Microsoft Word does not need to be cited, neither do AI capabilities within Microsoft Word.

• Before using AI:
  • Review the syllabus and assignment description carefully.
  • Identify whether AI is allowed, restricted, or prohibited for the task.
  • Note how AI may be used (e.g., brainstorming only, editing support, coding help).
  • When in doubt, ask your instructor for clarification.

AI should support learning, not replace it.

• Depending on the course, assignment, and instructor, appropriate use may include:
  • Brainstorming ideas or organizing thoughts
  • Generating outlines or alternative perspectives
  • Clarifying concepts or terminology
  • Editing for grammar, clarity, conciseness, style, tone
     
• Inappropriate use often includes:
  • Submitting AI-generated work as your own
  • Using AI to complete assignments meant to assess your skills
  • Replacing assigned readings with AI-generated summaries or otherwise bypassing required readings, data collection, or analysis
     
• You are always responsible for:
  • Understanding the material
  • Evaluating accuracy and bias
  • Ensuring the final submission reflects your thinking

See “Section 5: Citing AI Use” section above.

Using AI does not remove your responsibility to follow academic integrity standards.

• You should:
  • Never present AI-generated content as entirely your own work
  • Properly cite sources suggested or summarized by AI
  • Verify facts, references, and data independently
  • Avoid copying AI output directly into assignments unless explicitly allowed

AI tools can produce inaccurate, biased, or fabricated information. Submitting unverified AI-generated content may result in academic integrity violations, even if unintentional.

• When AI use is allowed, instructors may ask you to reflect on:
  • What the tool helped you do
  • What it could not do
  • How it shaped your learning or thinking

These reflections help you develop critical AI literacy, a skill increasingly valued in academic, professional, and civic contexts.