Declaration of AI use
How should the use of AI tools be documented during the writing of an academic assignment?
It is important to note that, as with other academic sources, the use of AI-generated content (e.g. text, images, programming code) is the sole responsibility of the person using it (whether a student or a lecturer). The user must independently check and/or verify the quality of the content and cannot attribute any errors in the content to the source of the information.
On this website, you will find suggestions for agreements on the use of AI with students prior to the course, as well as documentation tools for the use of AI in an examination or seminar assignment.
In order to ensure transparency regarding the options and conditions for the voluntary use of AI tools by students in their examinations, lecturers are advised to discuss the regulations governing the use of AI-based applications (AI regulations for examinations) in the examination associated with the course with their students at the start of the course and to make these clear.
The aim of the AI regulations is to establish the greatest possible transparency and clarity for both lecturers and students regarding the use of AI-based applications right from the start of a course.
Lecturers should describe the AI regulations they have chosen in relation to the teaching and learning objectives. It is recommended that the AI regulations be explained to students during the course and that students be given the opportunity to provide feedback. This also serves as a joint exercise and helps foster a culture among lecturers and students for the responsible and ethical use of AI in teaching and examinations.
Three options for agreements on AI regulations
To develop guidelines for the use of AI tools, the following three basic options can be utilised. These are suggestions that can be selected and adopted, but also tailored, expanded or modified to suit the specific subject area or course.
Option 1 can be used for courses that place no restrictions on the use of AI-based tools.
In Option 2, the use of AI-based applications is either permitted or prohibited for the completion of specific sub-tasks. To define these sub-tasks, the following activities can be distinguished, for example:
- Knowledge-generating activities: research, reading, identifying topics, formulating questions, acquiring and consolidating knowledge
- Text-structuring activities: Outlining and structuring the work
- Language-oriented activities: Formulating, translating and revising one’s own text
In Option 3, the use of AI-based applications is not permitted in principle, as they hinder the achievement of teaching and learning objectives.
Example of good practice
Staff at the Institute of Management and Organisation have produced a summary on the use of AI in seminars and when writing academic work. You are welcome to use the template and adapt it to your course as required.
KI-Policy-Generator
The AI Policy Generator, developed by the Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg, helps you as a lecturer to create a policy on the use of AI for your course. You can choose from 50 text modules, edit them and customise them. You can download the finished, customised policy or copy it out and make it available to your students.
The benefits are: as a lecturer, you have considered the regulations that are important to you, and students have the reassurance of clear guidelines on how they may and may not use AI in your course. Please note that the AI tools mentioned in the text modules are intended as examples only.
→ University of Bamberg AI Policy Generator
We recommend the generator as a supplement to the recommendations on AI use developed by Leuphana in cooperation with the Data Protection Officer and the Legal Department.
In addition to citing AI-generated results as a source, documenting the use of AI-based tools is one way of clearly and transparently indicating the extent to which AI-based support has been used. As requirements and conditions may vary depending on the subject, course and learning objective, several options for documenting the use of AI-based applications are presented below, each with a different focus. Relevant guidelines should always be clearly formulated, readily accessible at all times and communicated transparently to students.
Keyword-based list
If only a limited amount of information needs to be documented, this can be done using simple bullet-point lists. For example, if only a single AI tool is permitted for use within the scope of a specific service provision, or if, for a task not relevant to the assessment, it is merely necessary to state which tool was used for what purpose, a bullet-point list may suffice.
Example 1: Bulleted list of the work steps in which a specific AI chat system was used
- for brainstorming,
- to improve linguistic phrasing,
- to generate examples or for translation.
Example 2: Bulleted list of AI-based tools including their intended use
- elicit.com for literature research,
- semanticscholar.org for research,
- gamma.app for creating presentations
Holistic documentation
Holistic documentation refers to a comprehensive reflection on the use of these tools.
- A paragraph is added to the examination paper in which the student reflects on their own working methods with regard to the use of digital tools.
- The tools are named in the text, their use is described, and any potential impact on the examination performance is outlined in free text
- It is confirmed that the rules of good academic practice regarding the adoption and verification of generated content are observed.
- A list of prompts or generated content is not usually provided.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact lehrservice@leuphana.de.