Responsible AI Use

Policy

Generative AI may be used as a coding assistant, debugger, explanation tool, and writing aid. It may not replace the student’s responsibility to understand, validate, and communicate submitted work.

Students may use generative AI to:

  • ask for explanations of MATLAB or R errors;
  • request starter code or alternative implementations;
  • improve code organization;
  • review plots, reports, and explanations;
  • ask for checks that could reveal mistakes.

Students may not:

  • submit code, text, plots, or conclusions they cannot explain;
  • fabricate datasets, citations, results, or interpretations;
  • hide AI assistance in projects;
  • use AI to bypass required validation or reflection;
  • submit answer keys, exam solutions, or private material to public AI tools.

Required Project Appendix

Each project must include an AI-use appendix with:

  1. Tools used.
  2. The main kinds of help requested.
  3. Generated suggestions that were accepted.
  4. Generated suggestions that were rejected or corrected.
  5. Validation checks performed by the student.

Practical Standard

For any submitted line of code, figure, table, or conclusion, the student should be able to answer:

  • What does it do?
  • Why is it appropriate here?
  • How did you check that it is correct?
  • What could make it misleading?

Project Responsibility and Verification

Projects are collaborative and may use documented generative AI assistance. Every group member must review the final submission and be prepared to explain its code, figures, calculations, conclusions, and AI-use appendix.

After submission, a student may be invited to a brief project verification, selected randomly or because a material inconsistency requires clarification. Selection does not imply suspected misconduct. A student may be asked to explain part of the submitted work or reproduce a small modification.

A difference between project and examination performance may prompt review, but does not by itself establish academic misconduct. Unresolved concerns are handled through the university’s academic-integrity procedures.