Bath Spa University AI Policy

"Students should be made aware that using information created with generative AI and passing it off as their own work is plagiarism. This is not acceptable in any academic or professional work as outlined in our academic misconduct policy."

"Modules Leaders should provide guidance for students on how they might use generative AI to inform or support their assessments, including if they may not use it and how this should be acknowledged and referenced in the student’s formal submission. An Assessment Brief Template is available which suggests appropriate wording for alternative scenarios."

"This 'assessment brief' template can be used by module leaders to clearly indicate whether or not GenAI may be used to help with assessments."

"It's important you use generative artificial intelligence (AI) carefully and always disclose how you've used it in your assessments."

"You should also ask your module tutor if you have any queries or concerns regarding how to use AI in your assessments."

"Modules Leaders should provide guidance for students on how they might use generative AI to inform or support their assessments, including if they may not use it and how this should be acknowledged and referenced in the student’s formal submission."

"If you have been given permission to use GenAI, it can be most helpful in the planning stages of your work."

"Rather than asking it for a list of topic ideas, you could provide a list of topics that you plan to cover and ask it for feedback or further suggestions."

"You can also ask GenAI for feedback on what you've written, and the more specific you can be the better."

"Remember that GenAI hasn’t studied your subject, at your university, with your lecturers. Use your own judgement and critical thinking skills to assess any recommendations it makes."

"You can cut and paste a section of open access text into Copilot and ask for a summary to help you understand the original."

"- Be transparent—explain how and why you’re using it"

"- Keep records of prompts, tools used, and outputs"

"- Don’t list GenAI as an author on publications"

"• The use of GenAI tools in the writing of publications and/or literature review should always be acknowledged."

"• Authors are accountable for the accuracy, integrity and originality of their Research outputs, such as publications, including any use of GenAI."

"• Research outputs must be the authors’ own work, not presenting others’ work or output from GenAI tools without appropriate citation and referencing."

"• If you choose to copy and paste a large amount of text from GenAI, it is important to cite this correctly as outlined in Cite them Right."

"• GenAI does not meet the BSU determination for authorship, given the need for accountability, and so GenAI tools must not be listed as an author on any"

"• The University Ethics Committee (UEC) requires that all projects undertaken by BSU staff and students or involving BSU that involve the use of GenAI tools in data collection and/or analysis, or that are developing a GenAI tool must seek full ethical approval (Stage 2 ethics) before starting that Research."

"• The exception is when using a GenAI tool solely to undertake a Literature Review or as a general productivity aid"

"• Any use of GenAI tools within Literature Review should be in conjunction with a clear protocol in place for quality checking and utilised in conjunction with traditional"

"• Researchers must detail any use of GenAI in collecting, analysing or otherwise processing Research Data in their Data Management Plan (DMP) relating to the Research. Researchers should explain the reasons for using a particular GenAI tool(s), including an evaluation of the risks associated with using that tool via your DMP documentation."

"• Researchers must include information in the documentation and / or metadata that accompanies any Data that have been generated using processes involving GenAI tools."

"• Where practicable this should include naming the specific model(s) and software (including which version) used, when the tool was used, and specifying how content was generated, such as listing the prompt(s) used. This information must also be included in any publications or other outputs that report on such Data."

"A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is required by law if you input Personal Data where the processing of the Personal Data is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individual data subjects. Even if you are not inputting Personal Data, the University requests a DPIA screening before you use an unapproved GenAI tool."

"• Unintended introduction of biases into Research analysis, affecting the scholarly record through Research outputs and publications including theses and dissertations."

"• Factually incorrect assessment of Research analysis and results."

"3. Transparency"

"5. Accountability"

"These apply to all research, including when using GenAI tools."

"What You Must Do"

"Before Using GenAI:"

"- Check if the tool is approved by BSU"

"- Complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) if needed"

"- Get ethical approval if GenAI is part of your research design"

"- Check funder policies on GenAI use"

"- Be transparent in funding applications"

"• Even if a funder does not provide specific guidance, we recommend that you are transparent where you have used GenAI tools in the development of your application, and that you adopt the principles of the UKRI policy to inform your approach in lieu of any funder-specific guidance"

"• Ethical and societal risks of GenAI Research can manifest at different stages of Research. GenAI Research has therefore moved the singular moment of ethics approval at BSU to a dynamic ethics review process, potentially requiring multiple amendment requests from the applicant(s)."

"• Prior to seeking BSU ethics review, Researchers must have the approval in place for the GenAI tool they are planning to use. As part of this, Researchers will need to have conducted a DPIA for the involvement of that GenAI tool."

"• Disclose AI use; ensure data quality and responsibility."

"It's important you use generative artificial intelligence (AI) carefully and always disclose how you've used it in your assessments."

"Modules Leaders should provide guidance for students on how they might use generative AI to inform or support their assessments, including if they may not use it and how this should be acknowledged and referenced in the student’s formal submission."

"* I acknowledge the use of <insert name(s) and url> to generate information for background research."

"* I acknowledge the use of <insert name(s) and url> at the drafting stage of the writing process with the creation of an outline structure for this essay."

"* I acknowledge the use of <insert name(s) and url> to identify improvements in the writing style."

"Any use of translation tools in assessed work must be clearly acknowledged and referenced."

"• The use of GenAI tools in the writing of publications and/or literature review should always be acknowledged."

"• Research outputs must be the authors’ own work, not presenting others’ work or output from GenAI tools without appropriate citation and referencing."

"• Where practicable this should include naming the specific model(s) and software (including which version) used, when the tool was used, and specifying how content was generated, such as listing the prompt(s) used. This information must also be included in any publications or other outputs that report on such Data."

"At present, Bath Spa University will not be using digital tools to detect the use of generative AI (such as Turnitin’s AI detector) as they have not proved to be suitably reliable. If an assignment looks suspicious, AI detection tools are currently unable to provide the proof or evidence to back this up; they present a significant number of false positives and negatives."

"Depending on the extent of the breach, your marks may be reduced in your assessment, you may be asked to attend a meeting to discuss the breach, and/or you may receive an alleged academic misconduct report."

"Tools with enhanced AI functionality like Grammarly or paraphrasing applications offer substantial text rewrites which if copied and pasted directly into your work would count as academic misconduct."

"Bath Spa University acknowledges the opportunities and benefits afforded by generative AI and supports staff and students in its effective and appropriate use."

"Modules Leaders should provide guidance for students on how they might use generative AI to inform or support their assessments, including if they may not use it and how this should be acknowledged and referenced in the student’s formal submission."

"This 'assessment brief' template can be used by module leaders to clearly indicate whether or not GenAI may be used to help with assessments."

"This Generative AI & Assessment review tool can be used by programme and module leaders to review the use of GenAI within assessments, and to consider the risks and actions required"

"• We will ensure staff have the skills to maximise the value of AI, to help reduce workload and support effective learning, teaching and administration."

"* Ensure your manager has oversight over tasks you are using AI for"

"Therefore, users of this technology should avoid entering any information into a tool which they do not want to be made public or is otherwise restricted by law or policy."

"The following guidelines must be adhered to in using Gen AI applications:"

"5.1 To maintain the security of our data and IT systems, you must not attempt to gain access to unapproved AI applications when using University systems or networks, conducting business on behalf of the University, or when using the University’s data."

"Do not use University credentials, email addresses, or telephone numbers as a login to unapproved versions of publicly available AI applications where no data protection arrangement exists."

"Do not install non-approved Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), plug-ins, connectors, or software related to AI systems."

"you must only share information with approved personnel and only input sensitive information into approved AI systems."

"Do not input, or provide as a reference, University intellectual property into non-approved generative AI applications."

"Do not enter personal information of employees, customers, or other third parties into any non-approved AI application."

"Never enter sensitive company data or personal information into an AI tool"

"At BSU we've currently got licenses for Microsoft Copilot within the Edge browser, as well as Adobe Firefly as part of Adobe Creative Campus."

"Copilot in Edge is BSU's AI tool of choice as it's currently the only one we have a license for that also offers commercial data protection."

"3.3 Governance: The University uses a Data Protection Impact Assessment"

"• We will ensure staff have the skills to maximise the value of AI, to help reduce workload and support effective learning, teaching and administration."

"• We will ensure academic integrity is maintained, whilst allowing students/learners to develop the skills they need."

"• We will ensure the use of AI is lawful, safe, ethical and responsible."

"• We will aim to ensure all learners have access to the AI tools that they need."

"3. Transparency"

"4. Care and Respect"

"5. Accountability"

"These apply to all research, including when using GenAI tools."