After a shaky start, some colleges are telling staff and students to capitalize on AI — as long as they don’t use it to cheat

• A group of UK colleges has issued guidance allowing students and staff to capitalize on AI.
• Russell Group drew up the principles with backing from the vice-chancellors of 24 institutions.
• The colleges pledged to ensure that academic integrity was upheld as the tech developed.

A group of UK colleges has agreed to a set of principles that will allow students and staff to capitalize on generative AI — as long as they use it ethically.

Russell Group, which is made up of 24 leading colleges including Oxford and Cambridge, drew up the principles with backing from vice-chancellors of all the institutions.

The principles outlined a commitment to support students and staff to become “AI-literate.” The guidance said staff should be able to support students’ use of generative AI tools and adapt their teaching and assessment methods to allow for ethical use of the tech. 

The colleges also said they would ensure academic integrity was upheld and pledged to work collaboratively to share best practice as the technology developed. 

The guidance is not the first of its kind but does signal a growing shift in how educational institutions plan to approach generative AI.

The sector was one of the first to be disrupted by the new technology and many teachers and professors were left scrambling to deal with widespread instances of hard-to-detect AI cheating. 

Professors previously told Insider the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT was so disruptive they planned to change their teaching and assessment methods to avoid students using AI to cheat. Several colleges and schools simply banned the chatbot outright rather than run the risk of AI plagiarism or misinformation.

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said in a press release: “AI breakthroughs are already changing the way we work and it’s crucial students get the new skills they need to build a fulfilling career. University staff also need support as they look at how AI can be used to enhance their teaching and help bring subjects to life.”

“It’s in everyone’s interests that AI choices in education are taken on the basis of clearly understood values,” he added.