NEWS

"ICU's Perspective on the Use of Generative AI by Students" is Released

Update: May 24, 2023

On May 24, 2023, in accordance with ICU's Policy on Academic Integrity, the "ICU's Perspective on the Use of Generative AI by Students" was made available to students and the general public.

The University has been discussing issues related to generative AI, and in April, the guidelines for the English for Liberal Arts Program were announced to students. This new statement released today is for the entire education at ICU. The Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the Dean of the Graduate School, and the Dean of Students have taken the lead in its creation.

The full text can be read below. It is also available here.

ICU's Perspective on the Use of Generative AI by Students

1. Introduction

You are probably aware of the generative AI, which has recently become a hot topic. As a form of artificial intelligence that is evolving at an accelerating pace, it is gaining attention as a convenient tool, but at the same time, various potential dangers have been pointed out. Here, we present the basic perspective of International Christian University (ICU) on the use of generative AI.

ICU's mission is to nurture individuals who possess free and independent ability to think and critique, and make rational judgments based on truth and freedom, and accept responsibility for these decisions. In other words, students are expected to think independently, critically evaluate their thoughts, pursue high academic and ethical standards, and apply them in society.

2. What is Generative AI?

In the context of ICU's academic standards, how can the use of generative AI be positioned? Generative AI is a program that learns from massive amounts of data, such as existing documents and images on the internet or other databases, and can output answers to questions posed by users (prompts) in natural language or other forms.

Generative AI is highly likely to be integrated into daily life just as internet search engines were, and it is necessary for all of us living in the 21st century to use these tools, examine their pros and cons, explore solutions, consider new forms of communication that transcend differences in language, culture, and disabilities, evaluate the significance of human languages, and discover their progressive usages.

3. ICU's Academic Integrity Policy

Considering what is stated above, we, as a university that proclaims itself as the "University of Tomorrow," do not wholly deny the use of generative AI. On the other hand, using work created by generative AI as if it were your own creation for the purpose of grade evaluation is considered "plagiarism" as defined by ICU's Academic Integrity Policy. The policy states:

it is a serious violation of academic integrity to pass off the thoughts, ideas, words, phrases or research of another person as if those achievements were one's own. All work submitted by students for evaluation by their teachers must be original work. Students are expected to properly acknowledge all sources of information that is not the product of their own research or thinking.
"ICU Policy on Academic Integrity" 2004/02/19

Furthermore, there are concerns about the academic objectivity, ethical aspects, and safety of generative AI, as follows:

• The data used by generative AI consists of other people's works, presentations, and research results, so the output itself may infringe copyright or constitute plagiarism.
• The inaccuracy of the output has been pointed out.
• The narrowness, bias, and errors in the accumulated data may be reflected in the output, potentially reproducing discrimination based on race, gender, language, and religion.
• The input content is stored on servers and cannot be retrieved or deleted, posing privacy and security risks.
• There are no globally established common rules for development and usage.

To use generative AI appropriately, meticulous care and specialized knowledge are required, and it is necessary to critically examine the output and correct any issues. Relying on generative AI may mean abandoning human endeavour to craft words and sentences to communicate with others, and hinder your growth in creativity, critical thinking, and skills such as information gathering, organization, discussion, writing, and language learning.

4. ICU's Policy

In light of these considerations, ICU emphasizes the process of critical thinking among students. Therefore, when students engage in assignments, we expect them to think, research, reflect, and compose their responses in their own words. Texts created by generative AI, even with some alterations, will not be considered as their own work and will be deemed in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Tasks that are required to be completed by themselves should not be performed by generative AI. Violations of these policies will be treated as breaches of the Academic Integrity Policy.

This does not apply if the instructor specifically instructs students to use AI. Please consult with your course instructor regarding the AI usage policy for each course. In the absence of special instructions, this policy will apply.

5. Precautions When Using Generative AI

Exercise caution when using generative AI. Do not input personal information about yourself or others, others' copyrighted works, unpublished research results, or confidential information. Choosing to opt-out and not allowing the system to learn from the information input is the minimum necessary precaution. However, please be aware that privacy concerns may remain even when opting out.

6. In Conclusion

ICU is more concerned with the thought process leading to the outcome, rather than the outcome itself. It is through this process that "freedom and independence in ability to think and critique" can be acquired. When responding to assignments, we expect students to think, compose, revise, critically examine, and carefully craft their work, using their creativity and critical thinking.