In December 2023, the Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for Academic Activities at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (hereinafter referred to as the Policy) was approved, which aims to define the principles of responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the academic activities of participants in the educational process. The Policy provides recommendations aimed at helping research and teaching staff (RTS) and higher education students to improve the process and results of their activities.
POLICY ON THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES AT THE ICPU
The University supports rational experimentation with generative AI tools, but subject to important aspects of using such tools, in particular: information security, data privacy, copyright compliance and academic integrity.
The University’s position is not to declare general restrictions on the use of generative AI, but to emphasise the peculiarities of its conscious and responsible use, in particular
The University’s position is not to declare general restrictions on the use of generative AI, but to emphasise the specifics of its conscious and responsible use, in particular:
- completed tasks should be the result of your own original work;
- it is unacceptable to rely on generative AI as the only source of information, as it has limitations and carries certain risks/dangers;
- the subjects of the scientific and educational process should recognise and appropriately record the facts of using generative AI;
- each academic institution, within the framework of academic freedom, has the right to set certain restrictions on the use of AI in the process of mastering the relevant discipline (section “Discipline Policy” in the silabus), if necessary to achieve certain learning outcomes.
The University has the obligation to teach future graduates the benefits of reasonable use of AI technologies, as well as to ensure that they understand the risks and ethical aspects of such tools.
The University guarantees to support participants of the educational process in order to increase their AI literacy (formation of competences that will allow critical assessment of AI technologies, development of new effective methods of learning, teaching and research) and formation of a culture of responsible use of AI in academic activities, in particular:
- provide information support on AI literacy (holding educational events, thematic roundtables on the use of artificial intelligence in various fields of knowledge, etc;)
- offer NPEs relevant topics for professional development programmes to improve the practice of implementing AI innovations;
- fill educational programmes with new disciplines on AI technologies;
- introduce AI technologies to develop and support inclusive, adaptive and personalised learning.
The main purpose of using artificial intelligence in the educational environment is to provide enhanced opportunities for participants in the educational process to achieve their goals.
This Policy may be updated in accordance with changes in legislation and/or the development of AI technologies.
Ethics and integrity in the use of artificial intelligence
The university recognises as academically dishonest the following ways of using AI models that violate the principles of research integrity and ethics, for example:
- Passing off text generated by AI or AI paraphrased content from other sources as one’s own work. Using AI to automatically generate texts or paraphrase existing content without proper attribution violates the principles of authorship and is considered plagiarism.
- AI revision of an author’s own article for the purpose of re-publishing it as a new article. Using AI to transform an author’s already published work to make it look like a new publication violates the University’s Code of Honour and self-identification in a scientific work.
- Creating false data and presenting it as evidence of one’s own research (data fabrication). The generation of false data by AI and its use as a basis for scientific conclusions is a serious violation of academic integrity and may cause negative consequences for the quality of research and the reputation of the researcher.
The University strongly opposes any manifestations of misuse of AI technologies and supports the creation of an educational and scientific environment based on transparency, integrity and high standards of scientific ethics.