Generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion and others, are being embraced across disciplines for different learning goals, teaching methods and administrative decision-making. When using such tools or AI-powered platforms, the following elements should be considered:

Procuring AI Tools/Software (including free tools)

Contact City Tech CIS or AtoL, before purchasing or acquiring for free AI products or products that contain functions that rely on AI to operation — especially when using CUNY resources or data.

Protect Data Privacy

• Do not input confidential, personally identifiable or sensitive information
• Do not input information that violates Intellectual Property or general contract terms and conditions
• Always check the privacy policy of the tool you are using before using it. For example, the OpenAI privacy policy can be found here and it’s data collection here. Google’s privacy for Gemini can be found here and here. Keep in mind that anything you input into or produce with the free versions of AI tools is likely to be used to further refine the AI and then be used as the developer sees fit.
• Be careful of using tools that produce AI-enhanced versions of your face, as they may the possibility of AI-generated visages like your own show up in other people’s creations.
• Explore the privacy and security controls you get inside your AI tools of choice. Some tools like Gemini and Microsoft allow you to have the data you give it automatically erased after a set period of time or manually delete the data yourself. Controls for Gemini can be found here.
• Some AI tools permit users to opt out of the user of their data to train future iterations of the tool.

AI Literacy

• Understanding the AI you are using and differences between tools/platforms is important. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses is important.
• Developing skills in prompt literacy will allow you to effectively integrate AI into your work and education. The University of Michigan has a useful material on prompt literacy.
• Consult with learning designers who understand AI principles.
• Take advantage of AI learning tools, courses and campus experts.

Ethical considerations

• Confirm the accuracy of the output provided by Generative AI tools. It is possible for content to be inaccurate, biased or entirely fabricated.
• Consider that content may contain copyrighted material. You are responsible for any content that you publish that includes AI-generated material.
• Check the output of AI tools for bias. You must consider whether the data input into, and the output of, AI tools produces decisions that may result in unequal impact to individuals based on their protected classifications under law.
  

Disclosure of use and compliance

• You must disclose materials and work product that is based on or derives from the use of AI. Always be transparent if you are relying on the output of an AI tool
• Comply with third party intellectual property rights.

• Students are encouraged to speak with their instructors regarding their expectations and use of AI. Each instructor may have different policies around AI usage.
• Students are required to Cite or credit use of AI tools. If an instructor authorizes the use of AI in an assignment, then such use is not considered cheating if the student’s usage stays within the instructor’s stated parameters. Consult with your instructor for clear parameters. Presentation of any external source materials, including AI-generated materials, without appropriate attribution is plagiarism.
• Here are some guidance on citing AI:
• How to cite ChatGPT
• How to cite generative AI in MLA style

Academic Technology & Online Learning Gen AI Handbook

The following guidance is to help support faculty in navigating the appropriate use of AI in the classroom.

• Set clear expectations at the beginning of each semester through the syllabus, policy distribution and class discussion on appropriate use of AI tools.
• Transparency
• Clear guidelines
• Include syllabus statements
• Do not trust AI detection software. AI detection tools are likely to report false positives and false negatives. One study found AI detection tools consistently misclassified the writing of non-native English writers as AI-generated writing (W. Liang et al 2023)
• Student Evaluation and Assessment strategies should be evaluated and redesigned as deemed appropriate.  The impact of AI will differ in each course or assignment. 
• Practice using AI tools relevant to your disciplines and pedagogies. Consider designing or redesigning the course where some parts cannot be completed satisfactorily by AI tools, unless AI skills and values are the primary learning objectives.
• Consider the following:
• Focus on higher-order thinking
• Focus on the learning process over the product when appropriate
• Assign tasks that address real-world problems and require students to use innovative ways to address the goals of the assignment
• Consider looking at other University course redesign strategies such as University of Michigan.