Sample AI Syllabus Statements

Authored by Mira Debs, Lecturer in Sociology and Executive Director of Education Studies, EDST 110: Foundations in Education Studies 

Academic integrity is a core university value that ensures respect for the individuality of ideas and the development of knowledge. Writing for a course is not only a space to demonstrate knowledge, but a way to space where deep learning happens, where students exercise choice and agency in discovering their individual subject area interests. 

Failure to properly cite sources or use writing generated elsewhere is considered  plagiarism. Specifically, Yale’s policy on academic dishonesty includes “cheating on a test or an examination, plagiarism, improper collaborating on assignments, or the submission of the same essay to two instructors without the explicit consent of both.”  

The rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the last year means that we are in a fluid and fast-changing time for teaching and learning. Right now, the University’s policy is “Inserting AI-generated text into an assignment without proper attribution is a violation of academic integrity, and using AI tools in a manner that was not authorized by your instructor may also be considered a breach of academic integrity” although instructors have a lot of latitude in how they use AI. In general, however, this means using AI to generate arguments and writing without proper attribution is considered plagiarism. 

Here is our class policy on academic honesty with regards to AI: 

• In this class, any written work that you submit at any stage of the writing process—thesis, outline, draft, bibliography, final submission, blog posts, and more—must be your own ideas and writing, and not copied or AI generated.  
• Importantly, you may use AI as a research and editing tool. Any use of AI such as Chat GPT to support work on an assignment must be acknowledged in a citation that includes 1) the prompt you submitted to the bot, 2) the date of access, and 3) the URL of the program. 

For more details, please consult the Poorvu Center’s guidelines on using sources.  

Here are academically honest ways to use AI including CHAT GPT in EDST 110: 

• To conduct preliminary research and collect information alongside other search engines and library research tools 
• To get editing help to refine your ideas, alongside support from a writing tutor 
• To act as a tutor providing extra help on material - providing flash cards and study materials for the midterm 
• To provide summaries to check your understanding of  course material (but not as a substitute for reading course materials) 

Buyer beware! 

• AI chatbots can sound incredibly polished and authoritative, but they reflect biases and inaccuracies in academic fields and on the internet. Please don’t take the information provided at face value. 
• AI programs also have a tendency to invent academic sources. Please don’t get in trouble for having invented sources in your writing. Your TFs will do a source audit on student sources throughout the semester. 
• Privacy questions - If you upload unpublished writing (your own or someone else’s) to an AI site, it then enters the AI system database. Does the chat system have ownership of this writing?  

If you have questions (and we all are learning with this new technology), please consult with your TF or me. 

Authored by Charles Bailyn, A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of Astronomy and Physics, ASTR 180: Introduction to Relativity and Black Holes 

Note: This AI policy is embedded in the section of the syllabus on course format. 

Problem Sets: There will be eight problem sets, which will include problems and short answer questions.  You can drop two PSs – only six will count toward your grade.  Because of the drop option, it is not necessary to obtain a Dean’s Extension if you have to miss a PS for some reason.  If you’ve already dropped or done poorly on two PSs, and you’re going to miss a third we should probably have a conversation about what’s going on.  Students may work together on PSs, but the work submitted should be the student’s own.  What that means is that when you are writing up what you hand in, you should be alone, and unprompted by someone else’s work (that is to say, not looking at anything other than your own notes).   

The use of ChatGPT or other generative AI follows the same rules: while AI may be used as a source of ideas, text generated by ChatGPT etc may not be submitted.  We submit all questions to ChatGPT before the assignment is circulated, so we know what those answers look like.  That said, for the problem sets we will not go to great lengths to uncover such violations, and we won’t worry about ambiguous situations.  The purpose of problem sets is to learn the material, and to practice answering the kinds of questions that will appear on the tests. So while it might be possible to spend less time and get better grades on the problem sets themselves by submitting the work of others (human or artificial), in the long run this approach will result in the student spending more time and/or or doing less well on the course as a whole, and is thus a losing strategy.

Authored by Ryan Wepler, Lecturer in English and Director, Graduate Writing Lab at the Poorvu Center, ENGL 429 Writing Humor 

This course will emphasize four broad elements of humorous writing: texture, tone, character, and narrative. We will focus less formally on the various genres of humor writing (parody, satire, ridicule, etc.). Above all, this is a writing course. Humor writing demands an exceptionally high level of linguistic grace and precision, as slight differences in expression can mean the difference between a laugh and a groan. A strong emphasis will be placed on crafting sentences elegantly and expressing meanings with exactitude, skills essential not just to writing humorously, but to all genres of writing. 

Robots: If you want to run your premise through ChatGPT and see what jokes it writes for you, you are free to. But if you choose to do this: (a) You must include a footnote describing not just that you used ChatGPT (or some other generative AI) but how you used it; (b) Remember that ChatGPT draws on existing writing to predict the next word, which might make it best for anticipating the comic turns and punchlines readers are likely to expect so you can go someplace more surprising; (c) Consider that learning happens when you do the work yourself, so that while robots might help write funnier jokes, having them write for you is more likely to impede your growth as a humorist than enhance it. As an alternative—or in addition—consider showing your papers to your friends, your classmates, your enemies, writing center tutors, strangers, your grandparents. If they give you an idea for a new joke, include it without hesitation, and acknowledge their help in a footnote on the first page. 

Authored by Ben Glaser, Associate Professor of English, ENGL 353: Poetry and AI

AI Guidelines for Research and Written Work: It is up to you to determine the value of large language models / generative AI in your research and writing. For this course, we’ll adapt the Poorvu center’s boilerplate AI policy: Before collaborating with an AI chatbot on your work for this course, please request permission by sending me a note that describes (a) how you intend to use the tool and (b) how using it will enhance your learning. This includes AI research tools, such as elicit and poe, though they do not generally need to be cited. Any use of AI to complete the written portion of an assignment must be acknowledged in a citation that includes the prompt you submitted to the bot, the date of access, and the URL of the program.  Here is a guide for citing genAI: https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/

AI Code Policy: whenever you use gemini (in colab) or another AI tool to generate code, indicate this in a comment and include the prompt. Gemini will (quite helpfully) autocomplete some elements in colab: you do not need to cite these. The vast majority of credit in this class is not based on writing unique code but on doing interesting things with existing code. Cite copy-pasted code (i.e. from github or stackoverflow) in comments, but not imported / installed libraries (these are self-explanatory, though it may be helpful to document your choices) 

Authored by Michael Farina, Lector I, Italian Department, ITAL 110 Elementary Italian I 

Use of Generative AI is both permitted and encouraged. You may also use our (beta) TutorBot to help you learn Italian (www.yaleoer.com). You may not, however, use AI systems like GPTs to complete your work for you with little to no active participation on your end. In general terms, you may use AI to help with your work. You may not use it to do your work. Use of AI should be an active, or interactive, process that helps you learn. It should not replace learning with passive production of assignments and other work. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. When in doubt of AI-use on assignments, a best practice would be to ask your instructor if it is acceptable use. Any inappropriate use of AI to pass off generated content or work that is not your own will be treated as academic misconduct.

Authored by Lisa Messeri, Associate Professor of Anthropology, ANTH 229 The Anthropology of Outerspace 

Academic Honesty 

Plagiarism is the act of using the ideas or words of others without giving proper credit. It is a serious academic offense that undermines the integrity of scholarship and research. In this course, all work submitted by students must be their own original work. Any use of the ideas or words of others must be properly cited and credited. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, copying and pasting text from sources without proper citation, using someone else’s ideas without proper attribution, and submitting work that has been previously submitted in another course. If a student is found to have plagiarized, they will be subject to disciplinary action, which may include a failing grade for the assignment or the course. Students are encouraged to seek guidance from the instructor or writing center if they have any questions about proper citation and attribution. For further information, please consult the Center for Teaching and Learning’s website on citation practices.

This paragraph above was generated by ChatGPT in response to the prompt “write a plagiarism statement for an undergraduate syllabus.” I used the text verbatim, as it did a sufficient job of explaining how to avoid plagiarizing. I added the one Yale specific sentence at the end. The question I want you to consider is whether the above counts as plagiarism (given that I am telling you the “source”) and what honesty or integrity the text has were I to claim it as my own? 

We use technology to help us with academic learning – from calculators to word processors to powerpoint. Sometimes, it can be a great help as it takes more routine tasks and automates them. However, the assignments in this class are brief and designed to help you cultivate creative and critical thinking skills. Using ChatGPT for this class is the equivalent of getting someone else to write the essay for you, even if you still need to edit or clean it up. We are interested in reading YOUR ideas and YOUR words and also believe that the assignments are necessary to getting the most out of this class. Please keep that in mind even when you might be under a time crunch. We’d rather you ask for an extension then try to find a shortcut. 

Note: Professor Messeri wrote this article, “Teaching with ChatGPT: Critiquing Generative Artificial Intelligence from the Classroom” for Anthropology Now, which explains in more depth how her approach to AI and her AI policy for her classroom teaching has evolved. 

Authored by Alfie Guy, Lecturer in English and Senior Director, Undergraduate Writing and Tutoring

Use of Large Language Models

This course treats large language models (often called “AI”) as tools for reflection and synthesis, not as substitutes for first-pass reading, interpretation, or drafting. The assignments in this course are carefully scaffolded to help you develop reading, writing, and research skills. Using AI too early in that process undermines the productive struggle that makes learning possible.

When AI use is not permitted

For all weekly reading and for the initial production of any written work submitted for a grade (including Papers 1–3), the use of generative AI is not permitted. You should assume that your first encounter with course texts (including films & music)—and your first attempt to make sense of them in writing—must be done using only human power: your own reading, thinking, note-taking, and discussion with others.

You are also strongly urged not to consult AI tools or online explanations about course texts until after we discuss them in class. Much of what we read together is difficult—sometimes for artistic reasons, always because it is deep, dark, and rich. Working through confusion, resistance, or uncertainty is essential to genuine understanding.

When AI use is encouraged or required

This course also takes AI seriously as a potential learning tool. For that reason:

• Three assignments in this course—called AI Reflective Expansions—explicitly require you to collaborate with a chatbot after you have completed and received feedback on a major paper. These expansions ask you to reflect on what AI adds, distorts, or makes newly visible.

• You are permitted to use AI tools to help you study for the two oral exams, and we will discuss productive study strategies that leverage AI support.

• You may use AI when preparing your final reflective essay at the end of the semester.

Why this policy exists

Decades of research show that people learn more when they produce their own writing, struggle with difficulty, and revise their thinking over time. Most people use LLMs to make things faster and easier. This policy is designed to protect the parts of the process where struggle is most valuable, while still making room for thoughtful and explicit engagement. I use AI tools regularly in my own work, and we will talk openly about their benefits and limitations. The goal of this course is not to avoid AI, but to learn when and how to use it responsibly and intelligently.

Practical notes

“Using AI” includes relying on AI-generated summaries or analyses, including automated syntheses that now appear in many search