College students are embracing AI tools in a big way. As artificial intelligence becomes integrated into existing research and writing tools – in addition to the standalone AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini – it becomes almost impossible to avoid using AI in some form if you are performing any kind of research as part of your classwork.
That said, there are acceptable ways to use AI, and there are ways to use it that schools or professors have explicitly prohibited. When a student is accused of improperly using AI in their coursework, that is typically considered academic misconduct. The penalties for academic misconduct will vary from school to school and from one situation to the next, but can, in some cases, include receiving a failing grade in a course. If you are facing accusations from your school of improper AI use, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team is here to help. Call us at 888.535.3686, or fill out our contact form, and we will schedule a confidential consultation with you to discuss your case.
School Policies on the Use of AI
School policies concerning the use of AI continue to evolve as artificial intelligence tools continue to develop. With AI becoming integrated into many everyday Internet applications, such as search engines, it is becoming impractical for schools to prohibit all use of artificial intelligence by students. Instead, what schools are increasingly focusing on is prohibiting the use of AI to replace the learning process.
Colleges and universities want students to learn how to learn – in other words, to learn how to understand a problem or a question; to gather information to help them solve that problem or answer that question; and to actively explain their solution or what their answer is. Using AI tools to gather information is generally considered okay by schools. It is when students use AI to replace the thinking process that schools can argue the student has violated academic guidelines.
Think of it this way: if you replace an AI tool that creates a first draft of an essay with your roommate who does so, it becomes easy to see why a school would discipline a student for handing in the essay and claiming it was the student’s work. Handing in your roommate’s draft, even one that you have refined, is something that almost all schools would prohibit. In just the same way, handing in an essay that was drafted by an AI tool can violate the school’s academic standards.
Fact-Gathering vs Thinking
Schools are generally okay with students using all types of tools to gather information, including artificial intelligence powered search tools. That is because most learning involves more than simply gathering facts. It involves reviewing the facts, analyzing them, and drawing conclusions based on the facts that were gathered.
Students are still responsible for the facts that they gather, whether those facts come from a dusty old book in the research library, a traditional Internet search engine, or an AI-driven tool such as ChatGPT or Gemini.
Each of these sources can deliver information that is inaccurate. The dusty old book may contain scientific information that has since been proven to be wrong. The search engine may lead to a website that includes false facts. And AI tools have been found to fabricate facts and events that never existed. This leaves the student with the responsibility for checking that the facts they gather are accurate for the purposes of their assigned work.
When it comes to summarizing the facts that the student has gathered, or using them to draw conclusions or to support an opinion, however, schools generally expect that the students will do their own work. That is because one of the goals of education at the college and university level is to teach students how to think; how to take a set of facts and apply their own reasoning processes to those facts to arrive at an answer or a supported point of view.
Using AI for that step is possible. But just as relying on your roommate to write your essay for you is almost never allowed, relying on an AI tool to do so is almost never allowed.
The Consequences for Improper Use of AI
Can you fail a class for improper use of AI? It depends on the situation, but it is certainly possible. When it comes to academic misconduct, schools generally have a wide range of options when it comes to disciplining students who have violated the school’s honor code. Professors have similar leeway.
If you have been accused of using AI to create work that you have submitted as your own, and the school is able to prove that it was more likely than not that you used AI to create what you submitted, you could face a failing grade for your course.
In many cases, however, there may be room for negotiation. At the LLF National Law Firm, we regularly defend students from colleges and universities all across the country who have been accused of academic misconduct. Depending on the situation and the strength of the evidence against the student, we are often able to negotiate a resolution that does not result in the student failing the course.
Sometimes, when the school has problems proving that there was an improper use of AI, the matter may be dropped. In other cases, the school may allow the student to redo the work and resubmit it. Each case is different, and we use our experience protecting the rights of students all across the country to defend each new student client who trusts us with their case.
The LLF National Law Firm Can Defend You Against Academic Misconduct Allegations
If you have been accused of academic misconduct by your college or university, contact the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team for help. Whether you have been accused of improper use of an AI tool or some other form of academic misconduct, you have rights that deserve to be protected.
Our experienced attorneys know the laws, rules, school policies, and procedures that apply in academic misconduct cases. We will be there for you from day one, protecting your rights and defending you against allegations that could damage your academic career or even result in you having to leave school.
Don’t try to defend yourself against your school’s efforts to punish you for academic misconduct! Call the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team for help. You can reach us by phone at 888.535.3686 or by filling out our contact form. We will schedule a confidential consultation where you can explain your situation to one of our experienced attorneys, and we will tell you how we can help.