Generative Artificial Intelligence
The use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in assessed work.
Recently there has been a lot of debate and discussion about AI. Tools such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and GitHub Copilot (to name but a few) are generative AI tools that are easily accessible. Google Bard is a Google app available to all staff and students and is the supported GenAI tool at The University of Sheffield. However, there is a strong risk that uses of AI to do research for assignments can accidentally result in assignments that contravene the University’s Unfair Means policy (attached below).
The Sociological Studies Department has produced a set of good practice guidelines for responsible uses of AI. It is important that you follow this guidance, to ensure that any assignments are not classified as using unfair means.
Full disclosure of AI must be included in all written work. All assignments will now include an additional coversheet, which asks you if you have used AI and, if so, to explain how you have used it. Please see here for an example of what this coversheet looks like. This will be attached to the normal module submission form, and available on the assessment page for all module Blackboard sites.
Attempts to pass off AI-generated content as your own work is counted as unfair means (see below) and may lead to action being taken against you.
GenAI should not be used as a source for an assessment and you shouldn’t cite anything from a generative AI tool. This is because content generated by AI tools is not reliable and is usually non-recoverable and non-reproducible at a later date, so it cannot be retrieved from a link or citation.
Just because you can use GenAI for an assignment, doesn’t mean that you should. In most cases your own ideas, knowledge and experience will provide the most valuable starting point. Using GenAI can be a way to shut down and narrow your own creativity, as well as a way to enrich it.
You should only use University-approved AI, such as Google Bard, for academic work, you are not permitted to use other GenAI tools (e.g. ChatGPT).
You must ensure that the content produced by Google Bard is not plagiarising other work, and that it does not falsify content.
You should not use GenAI for any piece of work where you have been clearly instructed not to use any AI tools. (e.g. the assessment specification includes the statement “Use of any generative AI tools in the preparation of the solution to this work is not permitted.”)
Following these principles, the Association of Learning Technologies (ALT, 2023) have designed the following table to guide students and give examples on how Gen AI can be used in different university situations.
See also for further information:
· Library guidance on using artificial intelligence in your studies
Unfair means
The University has an Unfair Means policy, which explains what is or is not permissible in assessments, see here. Even if you make a full disclosure of your use of GenAI, if this is not specifically permitted in your assessment criteria and guidance, or extends beyond what is permitted, there is a risk of this use being considered an unfair advantage, and therefore unfair means.
GenAI responses are not held to the same expectations of accuracy, integrity and ethics as students and staff in academia. If you use responses from GenAI within your work, you could be using the following types of unfair means either knowingly or without even realising:
Plagiarism - submitting work or ideas that are not your own, and not attributing the work of others through appropriate referencing. For example, using a GenAI response as if it is your own work, or using an idea given to you by a response, without knowing or referencing where GenAI found the original idea.
Buying or commissioning work - submitting work that you have requested a service to produce, and submitting it as if it is your own work. Even if you have used a free GenAI tool, this is still unfair means if you claim it is your own work.
Coursework sites - the University does not support the use of sites that share content such as lecture notes, essays, lab reports or exam questions. GenAI may be taking its responses directly from these prohibited sites without you knowing.
Fabrication - submitting work where some information is made up, such as quotations, results of experiments, or survey findings that are not true. GenAI does not have the capacity to judge whether its sources are objectively true or accurate and can give a convincing response to a question that it has found no answer for - this is sometimes called AI ‘hallucination’.
Collusion - submitting work that has been created with the help or input of other people as if it is your own work in an assessment that does not permit group work. If more than one student has been using GenAI responses within their work and these are similar, this could look like collusion.
If you are in any doubt about whether GenAI use is allowed, or if you feel reluctant to admit in your assessed work that you have used Gen AI, then seek clarification from staff in your department. If you do misuse AI this is considered unfair means and can have serious consequences for your progression at university.
Please note that the department reserves the right to viva (provide a verbal check) student work where there are concerns regarding the potential misuse of AI.