Demonstrate authentic authorship

Your DP work must represent your own learning, understanding and judgement. AI may support particular stages of a task when your teacher permits it, but it cannot replace your research, analysis, interpretation or academic voice.

This applies to all assessed work, including internal assessments, the Extended Essay, TOK work, portfolios, creative work and oral components.

You must be able to explain and defend every part of the work you submit.

Start with your own thinking

Develop your ideas before asking AI for support.

At the beginning of a task:

• Read and unpack the task requirements and assessment criteria.

• Record your initial ideas, questions and possible approaches.

• Identify what you already know and what you need to investigate.

• Create a tentative plan, outline or first draft.

• Discuss your direction with your teacher or supervisor when appropriate.

Starting independently helps you develop an authentic line of inquiry and makes it clear which thinking is yours.

Use AI to support—not replace—your learning

When AI use is permitted, use it to extend your thinking rather than to complete the task for you.

Appropriate support may include asking AI to:

• Suggest questions to consider about a topic.

• Identify gaps, assumptions or counterarguments in your reasoning.

• Help you plan a search strategy or generate keywords.

• Explain a concept that you then check using reliable sources.

• Provide feedback on clarity, structure or repetition in your draft.

• Create practice questions from your own notes.

• Help debug code that you test and understand yourself.

Avoid asking AI to produce a finished response, analysis, conclusion, reflection or creative product that you could submit as your own.

Keep your analysis and interpretation your own

AI can generate convincing language, but it cannot complete the intellectual work required for DP assessment.

Your own work should include:

• Selecting and evaluating evidence.

• Analysing data, texts, sources or artistic choices.

• Developing and justifying an argument.

• Making methodological and creative decisions.

• Comparing perspectives and recognising limitations.

• Drawing conclusions from your evidence.

• Reflecting on your learning and process.

AI-generated claims or interpretations are starting points to evaluate—not conclusions to adopt.

Question AI suggestions critically

Before using any AI suggestion, ask yourself:

• Is it accurate, relevant and supported by reliable evidence?

• Does it answer the question I am investigating?

• Does it oversimplify, generalise or omit important perspectives?

• Does it reflect my own understanding and intended argument?

• Can I explain and justify it without referring back to the AI tool?

• Does it meet the expectations of this subject and assessment?

Reject suggestions that are inaccurate, unsupported, inappropriate or inconsistent with your own evidence.

Write in your own voice

Your final work should sound like a thoughtful version of you: clear, precise and appropriate for the subject, but grounded in your own ideas and understanding.

Using a paraphrasing tool or changing a few words in AI-generated text does not make it your own work.

A more authentic process is:

1. Develop your own notes, ideas or draft.

2. Use AI feedback only when permitted.

3. Decide which feedback is useful.

4. Return to your evidence, notes and assignment criteria.

5. Revise the work in your own words.

6. Check that you can explain every claim, example and decision.

Show the development of your work

DP coursework develops over time. Keep evidence that shows how your thinking, research and final work evolved.

When appropriate, retain:

• Research notes and source evaluations.

• Initial questions, plans and outlines.

• Drafts and revision history.

• Feedback from teachers, supervisors or peers.

• Records of relevant AI prompts and outputs.

• Notes explaining what AI suggestions you accepted, changed or rejected.

• Data files, calculations, code versions or creative-process records.

• Sources used to verify AI-generated information.

This evidence supports your learning process and helps you demonstrate authentic authorship.

Examples in practice

Instead of this

I asked AI to write my introduction and used the response in my essay.

Try this

I drafted my introduction from my research notes. I then used AI feedback to identify where the purpose of my investigation was unclear. I revised selected sentences in my own words and checked that the introduction matched my research question.

Instead of this

I asked AI to analyse my data and copied its conclusion.

Try this

I completed my own analysis of the data and used AI to suggest questions I could ask about patterns and limitations. I checked the suggestions against my data, chose which were relevant and wrote the final interpretation independently.

Instead of this

I used AI to make my writing sound more academic.

Try this

I used AI feedback to identify repeated words and unclear transitions. I decided which changes were useful and revised the writing while retaining my own argument, evidence and style.

Take responsibility for the final work

Before submitting, make sure that you can:

• Explain every key idea, term, source and example.

• Identify the evidence supporting each major claim.

• Describe your research and decision-making process.

• Explain what AI contributed, if it was used.

• Show how you verified or revised AI suggestions.

• Defend the analysis, interpretation and conclusions as your own.

• Demonstrate that the final work reflects your learning.

If you cannot explain part of your work independently, it is not ready to submit.

Final check

Ask yourself:

• Did I develop the central ideas and argument myself?

• Did I use AI only in ways permitted for this task?

• Did I critically evaluate rather than automatically accept AI suggestions?

• Did I conduct my own research and evaluate my own sources?

• Did I write and revise the final work in my own words?

• Does the work accurately reflect my current understanding and ability?

• Can I explain the complete process and final product?

• Have I acknowledged and referenced AI use where required?

AI can support your learning but your thinking, judgement and authorship must remain at the centre of the work.