Because norms related to generative AI use can vary substantially across fields and subfields, how and if you are allowed to use generative AI tools is up to your instructor. You should review course materials such as your syllabus, class Brightspace page, and assignment prompts to identify your instructor’s policy on the use of generative AI. Prior to using generative AI, you should review the Academic Affairs Guidance for Artificial Intelligence Tools.

Given the rapid development in the capabilities of generative AI, it is possible that you may not be able to locate your instructor’s policies on using these tools. If you cannot find your instructor’s policies, a good first step is to reach out to your instructor for guidance. Absent guidance from your instructor, you are permitted to use generative AI tools, but you must clearly disclose your use of these tools.

If you are using generative AI to complete activities or assignments for a course, you should refer to your instructor or advisor’s policy on the use of generative AI. You should also review relevant assignment prompts for any specific instructions related to disclosure and citation of generative AI use. If you are unsure what your instructor’s expectations are for disclosing the use of generative AI, reach out to your instructor for guidance. When in doubt, cite and disclose all uses of generative AI.

Your instructor may have disclosure and citation requirements and norms specific to your course. In such cases, you should carefully review all requirements to ensure your disclosure adheres to all stated requirements. Your instructor may require you to adhere to a certain style guide’s practices for disclosing generative AI use, such as guidance recently published by the MLA and the APA. If you are permitted to use generative AI, leave time to familiarize yourself with all citation and disclosure practices before submitting an assignment.

If your instructor’s policies permit you to use generative AI, you should ensure that your use of these tools complies with all stated requirements. Even when use is permitted, generative AI may not always be the best tool to use to complete a task. When deciding whether or not it is appropriate to use generative AI to complete a particular task, consider whether it will enhance your learning or diminish it. Before using generative AI, consider asking yourself the following questions:
• Is using generative AI in this context a shortcut around or an addition to the learning process?
• Am I knowledgeable enough on this subject to critique the output of a generative AI tool to verify that everything is correct, accurate, and free of hallucinations?
• Am I willing to take responsibility for any AI-generated content that I use?
• If I use generative AI for this task, will I still develop the skills that this activity targets?

If you answer no to any of the above questions, that may be a sign that generative AI is not a suitable tool to use in that scenario. However, if you answer yes to the above questions, using generative AI may be a useful strategy. When using generative AI, consider taking detailed notes so that you are prepared to appropriately cite and disclose your generative AI use. For additional strategies for using generative AI tools effectively, visit our Tips for Using Generative AI page.

There are a variety of ways that you might use generative AI to support your learning. Before using generative AI, be prepared to identify potential risks and critically evaluate any AI-generated output. Keep in mind that generative AI use should comply with your instructor’s stated policies. Below, we share some possible uses for generative AI use, highlighting potential benefits of these strategies and their associated risks.

• Create activities and problems to practice learning a skill or concept.
  • Benefit: If you have exhausted all available practice problems in your textbook, this can be an easy, on-demand way to continue to practice learning a skill.
  • Risk: Depending on the discipline or topic, the solutions provided may not be accurate. There is also a chance that the problems and activities are not relevant or accurately framed, so you should be prepared to assess the quality of the output.
  • Additional tip: Consider including models of activities and problems in your prompt to demonstrate the type of practice you are looking for.
• Request real-time feedback on your ideas
  • Benefit: Generative AI may be able to provide counterarguments to a claim, identify holes in your logic, or identify opportunities to incorporate additional evidence to support a claim.
  • Risk: The feedback provided may be surface level or contradict the scope, goals, or parameters of a given prompt.
  • Additional tip: Use generative AI feedback to help refine your ideas in the early stages of a project before seeking more in-depth feedback from peers, instructors, or other campus resources, such as the Writing Studio.
• Break down a task into multiple steps
  • Benefit: When dealing with a difficult project or task, generative AI can help you break a task down into smaller, more manageable steps. For example, when preparing for an upcoming midterm or exam, generative AI may be able to help you create a personalized study plan.
  • Risk: Generative AI may suggest unnecessary steps or omit important steps.
  • Additional tip: State both the goal and provide examples of intermediate steps you know need to be included. Using a prompt pattern like the recipe pattern may also help to improve the quality of the output.
• Generate paraphrased, summarized, and reformatted versions of content
  • Benefit: When encountering complex, difficult, or lengthy content, generative AI may be able to identify key takeaways or rephrase information in a way that is more accessible.
  • Risk: Taking the time to summarize material and put it in your own words can help with learning and comprehension. Depending on the learning context, using generative AI to perform this work may prevent you from reaping the full benefits of this task. You may want to also consult with course materials, peers, instructors, and tutors to confirm your generative AI mediated understanding of a topic is accurate.
  • Additional tip: Consider prompting generative AI to ask you questions about a given text and to provide feedback on your explanations of key concepts. You might also ask questions to the generative AI platform in a way that mimics a conversation, which can be helpful when a tutor in instructor may not be available.

While it is unclear how generative AI will impact every career field specifically, it will undoubtedly have an impact across industries. Some jobs will encourage or require generative AI skills, while others will be more cautious and discouraging of its use. Because of this wide variety of viewpoints, and the rapid pace of change with generative AI, it is impossible to project with certainty how generative AI may impact your future career. However, in this rapidly changing landscape, you may want to seek out opportunities to learn about generative AI tools, research how generative AI is currently impacting careers in your discipline and discuss ramifications of generative AI with instructors and other mentors in your prospective career field.

If you are interested in building skills related to generative AI, there are many ways you can do so. To get started, check out our Tips for Using Generative AI, Introduction to Generative AI and Prompt Patterns pages, which will help give you a foundational understanding of how generative AI works. Additionally, there are many other online resources such as Computer Science Professor Jules White’s, free, open-access courses that cover topics such as Prompt Engineering and Advanced Data Analytics with ChatGPT. There are also a variety of courses available for you to take related to Artificial Intelligence. The AI Grand Challenge Initiative and the Data Science Institute provide course numbers and descriptions of some recently offered courses.

As with other topics of generative AI, the ability and permission to use these tools will vary depending on the specific use case. Before using generative AI as part of Vanderbilt-sponsored work, be sure to consult with your advisor, principal investigator, and/or supervisor before using generative AI. When discussing generative AI use with the person supervising your work, you should also discuss expectations and norms for disclosing the use of generative AI. Because views and perceptions of AI vary widely across disciplines, different projects will have different requirements allowing or disallowing the use of generative AI. When using generative AI, be mindful of potential privacy issues when using sensitive data that is protected by policies such as HIPPA or FERPA. For additional information on how generative AI may impact your research, check out our Generative AI and Research page.