Boston Conservatory AI Policy

At Berklee Online, students may use AI to support learning, explore ideas, and experiment creatively. AI may not be used to misrepresent authorship, replace skill development, or bypass what an assignment is designed to teach.

This policy sets the baseline for all Berklee Online courses. Instructors may add further requirements or restrictions for their courses. Students are responsible for following both.

Policies around the use and incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) will vary, and students should refer to syllabi and/or their course instructors for policies specific to their class or to specific assignments.

In the absence of a policy or direction from the instructor specifically permitting the use of AI, using AI to substantially complete coursework—either directly or with modification—and presenting it as original work constitutes academic dishonesty and will be treated analogously as receiving help from another person.

There are no institution-wide requirements for students or faculty to use AI. As with other technologies, how generative AI is incorporated into a course is determined by academic departments and individual faculty.

AI use is generally not appropriate when you:

* Use AI on assessments designed to measure your independent performance

Unless explicitly allowed, AI use is not permitted in assessments intended to measure what you know, what you can do independently, or your mastery of course learning objectives.

Important: These are the core rules. Your instructor may allow more, or restrict further. Always check your course syllabus.

At Berklee Online, students may use AI to support learning, explore ideas, and experiment creatively.

AI use is generally appropriate when you:

* Use it to explore ideas, get feedback, or experiment with creative possibilities

* Remain the decision-maker: you direct, evaluate, and meaningfully transform the output

As arts educators, we will maintain our long commitment to ensuring Berklee students have a practical, real-world understanding of the latest technology trends, are adaptable, and feel empowered.

Faculty and students work with emerging tools in creative contexts, evaluating their capabilities and limitations.

Students must ensure that all submitted work reflects their own understanding, judgment, and creative voice. This includes written work, compositions, productions, performances, sound design, arrangements, coding, analysis, and other creative or technical outputs.

Using AI to fully generate music, lyrics, arrangements, code, analyses, or written work that replaces skills students are expected to personally practice is considered disingenuous use unless specifically authorized.

AI systems may produce sub-par work and inaccurate information. Examples may include: weak musical ideas, stylistic clichés, unusable code, or fabricated references. Students are responsible for verifying factual claims and exercising musical and technical judgment over any AI-assisted material.

AI use is generally appropriate when you:

* Disclose your use and cite AI contributions as required by your instructor

When AI use is permitted, students must disclose that use when required and cite AI-generated contributions using the citation style designated in the course.

Student work is expected to align with policies on academic integrity, including appropriate attribution of sources and collaborations as defined by instructors. Submitting AI-generated work as original without disclosure or attribution is considered academic dishonesty.

Submitting AI-generated work as your own, without instructor authorization and without demonstrating your own judgment and decision-making, constitutes academic dishonesty.

In the absence of a policy or direction from the instructor specifically permitting the use of AI, using AI to substantially complete coursework—either directly or with modification—and presenting it as original work constitutes academic dishonesty and will be treated analogously as receiving help from another person.

Important: These are the core rules. Your instructor may allow more, or restrict further. Always check your course syllabus. Misuse may result in consequences up to and including course failure, suspension, or dismissal.

#### Disciplinary Sanctions in Order of Severity

Sanctions that may be assigned as a result of a student found in violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Sanctions may be imposed independently or in combination with other sanctions.

* Written Warning: An official written notification that a student's behavior has violated the college's policies, including expectations for future behavior. Further misconduct may be treated with more serious sanctions.

* Disciplinary Suspension: Suspension separates the student from the college for a specified period of time. While under disciplinary suspension, students are prohibited from attending any classes of any kind. The student may not register and/or enroll until the stated period of suspension, and all other requirements are met.

* Expulsion: Student is permanently dismissed from the college and may not re-enroll.

There are no institution-wide requirements for students or faculty to use AI. As with other technologies, how generative AI is incorporated into a course is determined by academic departments and individual faculty. Within the principles of academic freedom, faculty have the autonomy to explore and teach new technologies within established curricular frameworks.

Find resources for educators about the impact of AI on higher education and creative industries and prompts for discussions about AI in the classroom. You can also watch recordings of an event series about the current and future implications of AI and how to integrate AI into your teaching practices in an ethical and responsible manner.

As arts educators, we will maintain our long commitment to ensuring Berklee students have a practical, real-world understanding of the latest technology trends, are adaptable, and feel empowered. We will always focus on the best practices in supporting our students and our faculty.

AI use is generally not appropriate when you:

* Share others' personal data, classmates' work, or restricted materials with AI tools

Berklee does not endorse any one technology, platform, or approach to making music.

No. Berklee does not have partnerships with any generative music AI company. Generative AI capabilities are increasingly built into widely used tools and platforms, including Canvas, Gmail, and digital audio workstations. The use of these tools does not constitute a partnership.

As an educational community we are committed to the development of policies, partnerships, and educational practice around gen AI and enabling technologies that recognize the critical roles that individual artists and creative practice play in our society.

The following are intended as core principles that will guide our work and our partnerships in these areas.

As artists, we center the human and human experience in all of our work. We will continue our tradition of early adoption of technology that empowers and amplifies human creativity, always through an artist-first lens.

As artist advocates, we champion the role of human creators in shaping the future of music and the arts. This includes ensuring that the rights, recognition, and consent of artists are at the center of ethical development of new creative technologies.

We encourage you to help us coordinate our efforts by connecting with the working group.

Through classrooms, forums, and initiatives like the Berklee Emerging Artistic Technology Lab (BEATL) and the AI Music Summit (AIMS), we are committed to including a broad range of perspectives and critical viewpoints.