Updated July 2024
This webpage replaces prior pages ChatGPT FAQs for Faculty and ChatGPT FAQs for Students that were published in February 2023 and October 2023.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is a category of technology that creates new content in response to prompts. GenAI is a rapidly evolving area affecting university education.

  • Content can be in the form of text, image, audio, video and software code, depending on the tool.  
  • The content that is produced can be very difficult to distinguish from that produced by humans.  
  • Where human brains learn based on relatively few examples, these tools have been trained on massive data sets of human-created content.
  • GenAI tools, such as Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, work by predicting what a human would produce in response to an input. 
See these additional resources for more information:
- Detailed information about GenAI in the LTE Toolkit

GenAI and Academic Misconduct

 Updated July 2024

Expectations for GenAI use, or non-use, are to be set out clearly by instructors as these expectations serve to define academic misconduct.

How the USask Academic Misconduct Regulations apply

Here are two relevant sections of the USask Academic Misconduct Regulations that may apply to academic misconduct involving GenAI use:

Unpermitted Assistance

= a student used a GenAI tool in a way that was not allowed.
  • See p. 6, point g (i)
    “failure to observe any stated rule with regard to the procedures used in an examination, assessment, or an activity undertaken for academic credit where such a failure could result in the student gaining relatively greater credit” 

Missing or inadequate attribution 

= a student included content or ideas originating with or derived from GenAI but did not acknowledge the source 
  • See p.7, point l
    “Adequate attribution is required. What is essential is that another person has no doubt which words or research results are the student’s, and which are drawn from other sources. Full explicit acknowledgment of the source of the material is required.” 
  • See p. 7, point l (ii)
    “The verbatim use of oral or written material without adequate attribution” 

Detection Tools -- Not Approved

Tools to detect text or other outputs produced by GenAI are not reliable.  

False accusations can be devastating, and the detection tools are known to disproportionately generate false positives for those writing in an additional language. 

Students are advised to report use of detection tools on their intellectual property to appropriate Associate Deans. 

Advice for Students

Updated July 2024

GenAI is a rapidly evolving area affecting university education. Students are responsible to maintain academic integrity and this includes being knowledgeable about what GenAI use is allowed for assessments.  

Top Five Pieces of Advice: 

  1. Follow the rules laid out by each instructor. Usually these appear in the syllabus or instructions for assessments.    
  2. Recognize there will be differences in expectations between instructors and possibly between assessments in the same course. 
  3. Ask your instructor for clarification if no permissions or restrictions have been stated and if anything is unclear.
  4. Check out guidance available from the University Library: Understanding Generative AI
  5. Report use of unapproved detection tools to the Associate Dean in the College of the course of instruction.

Advice for Instructors

Updated July 2024

Students will ask you to provide GenAI expectations for assessments so that they know what is permitted and what is not. Your stated expectations will define academic misconduct when it comes to GenAI use in your course.

Top Five Pieces of Advice: 

  1. Provide clear expectations. 
  2. Explain your learning and integrity-related reasons for setting GenAI permissions or restrictions. 
  3. Provide a citation or acknowledgement format that supports transparent use. 
  4. Consider how assessments can be updated to reflect new GenAI uses and applications.
  5. Do not enter students’ assessments into third party tools, including in attempt to identify academic misconduct.

Citing GenAI

As GenAI use becomes more and more common, standardized formats for citation and acknowledgement are becoming available for textual and non-textual outputs. 
  • See this USask Library Guide for details Citing Generative AI
  • Check journals and publishers in specific fields of study and research for additional information. 

Acknowledging GenAI Use / Non-Use

Standard templates or formats for acknowledging GenAI use, or non-use, may be used. These should be consistent with and specific to the assessment in question.

  • Student name, assessment title, date of submission, relevant course details.
  • Signature line or equivalent where a student formally verifies their agreement with the statement.
  • Example standard statement: “I understand that as I student, I am responsible to become knowledgeable about academic integrity practices expected of me in my courses and this includes and is not limited to following expectations for GenAI use outlined by my instructor in this course”  

Purpose: To have a student formally confirm that they have not used GenAI in the ways an instructor has said are not permitted on an assessment.

Since GenAI is built into many everyday software, apps and tools now, the language of a “total ban” is not practical and it is recommended that specific restrictions be named. Example statements: 
  • "I confirm that I have not used any GenAI tools or technologies to generate the content of this assessment." 
  • "I confirm that I have not used any GenAI tools or technologies to produce or edit the [text/image/code/video/visuals] included in this assessment."

Purpose: To have a student (1) describe their permitted use in a way the instructor finds sufficient, and,  (2) formally confirm that they have not used GenAI in the ways an instructor has said are not permitted on an assessment. 

Example statements are listed below and may begin with a stem such as this: “I acknowledge specific uses of GenAI to produce this assessment and… ". 


Example statement format  Example of additional process description  
To create an outline: 
…I acknowledge the use of [tool(s)] to generate an outline for an assignment as permitted by the instructor. 		 I entered the following prompt(s) [insert] and limited my use of the output to assist me to plan my assignment.  The ideas and text used are cited appropriately where they are not uniquely my own.   
To start a research process: 
…I acknowledge the use of [tool(s)] to brainstorm topics for an assessment as permitted by the instructor. 		 I entered the following prompt(s) [insert] and used the output as a starting point for topic ideas/research directions. 
To edit: 
…I acknowledge the use of [tool(s)] to edit and format the final product for this assessment as permitted by the instructor.  		 I entered the following draft [insert link to document(s)] and entered the following prompt(s) to produce an improved draft which I then reviewed and made final modifications before submitting.   
To complete a task: 
…I acknowledge the use of [tool(s)] to complete the requirement as assigned by the instructor. 		 I entered the following prompt(s) [insert] and used the output in order to [insert assessment task].

Support

Advice and Guidance

Academic Integrity - Academic Integrity Strategist, Susan Bens

Teaching with GenAI - Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning

Copyright information - Copyright Coordinator 

Privacy information - Legal Counsel, Access and Privacy Officer, Rayelle Johnston