Graduate education and Generative AI (Gen AI)

Generative AI (GenAI) tools have rapidly propagated within the last several years, opening new opportunities for innovation in scholarly work, while also raising questions about the impact of these technologies on scholarship and student learning. This site provides preliminary guidance on the ethical use of GenAI tools in the context of graduate education at UBC and all aspects of graduate student scholarship, including admission applications, coursework, comprehensive exams, major projects, and theses/dissertations.

For the purposes of this site, Generative AI (GenAI) refers to tools that use machine learning tools and algorithms to produce new substantive text, analysis, charts, images, code, audio, or video.  

Throughout academia and beyond, scholars are experimenting with uses of GenAI to advance innovation and productivity.  It is inevitable that the use of these technologies will increasingly be integrated into how students approach their academic work. Facility with GenAI tools is rapidly becoming a valued capability in many career trajectories for those with advanced degrees, and graduate education is an ideal context for learning about its ethical uses.

While GenAI tools have significant potential as innovative academic resources, they also can pose risks to the academic mission of graduate education and to the integrity of student work. Developing high levels of personal and professional capability in a wide range of scholarly skills (e.g., academic research and writing, idea analysis and synthesis, etc.) and attributes (e.g., ethics, integrity, intellectual curiosity, bias identification, etc.) are the hallmarks of graduate education. The use of Generative AI should never compromise or replace a student’s development in these areas.

The use of GenAI in scholarly work is an academic decision, subject to principles of academic freedom and standards of scholarly integrity. Many academic disciplines, associations and publications have produced specific guidelines for use and citation of GenAI, which should be followed by students as appropriate.

The substantive (i.e. non-editorial) use by graduate students of Generative AI tools and outputs must be done with full transparency and with the approval of the academic(s) responsible for evaluating the given work in question -- course instructor, research supervisor, or other advisor as appropriate. Students must proactively obtain such approvals, and document in writing any use of GenAI in their work. Students themselves are solely responsible for ensuring that their use of GenAI and all work produced is in alignment with program-level guidelines and university policies on student Academic Misconduct and Scholarly integrity.

If GenAI was used in the research described, the drafting of, and/or the preparation of a thesis or dissertation, the Preface must include a concise description of how it was used. If generative AI was not used in any way, a clear statement that generative AI was not used for any aspects of the work must be included.

This section will be updated occasionally to reflect the ongoing evolution of Generative AI tools and technologies and guidance on their acceptable uses in Graduate Education at UBC.

Additional guidance on the use of GenAI at UBC is also available.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

University policies

UBC policy on student academic misconduct

UBC policy on scholarly integrity

UBC Generative AI website and related guidelines

UBC guidelines on use of GenAI in teaching and learning

Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies thesis guidelines on citing use of AI (TBD)

UBC Library resources on use of GenAI

Indigenous data sovereignty and governance

 

resources

GenAI and graduate Research

GenAI recording and transcription tools

Use of GenAI in grant proposals

Discussion prompts for students and faculty to discuss GenAI

Graduate Program guide to setting parameters for student use of GenAI