GenAI is becoming more and more a tool for productivity and efficiency. And we are sure some (or most) of you are using it in your jobs.
We are, by no means, supporters of the idea of banning tools. On the contrary, we believe in making them work for us in a smart manner. Nonetheless, we are also firm believers in academic integrity and ethics.
Therefore, some blanket clarification is needed on the way you may use responsibly GenAI tools in your assignments and dissertation. Please take the time to read carefully through this (long) message.
1. Your original thought is essential for your education.
Relying on AI to perform your analysis or develop your arguments is counterproductive and defeats the purpose of going through a master’s program to develop your analytical and research skills.
Any AI tool should help you think better, not think less.
2. Text generated by AI is not generated by you. While obvious, this still needs to be said. In this respect, it is like taking text from another source = it equates to plagiarism.
You probably wonder how we know?
There are several elements that someone (not necessarily an automated AI content detector) may figure out that a certain text is not human-generated: for instance, predictable sentence structures (this is called perplexity), sentence variation (burstiness), lack of unique insights and deep analysis, and reliance on common phrases or words (such as most of you referring to an article as ”compelling”), number of sentences in a paragraph, etc.
Obviously, AI detection tools are not infallible—they rely on statistical models that analyze text patterns; that is why the professors checking your assignments and your coordinator for your dissertation will evaluate your work on content quality, depth of analysis, train of thought, and originality of solutions.
3. The usage of AI (including GenAI) must be properly mentioned, cited, and referenced. Just like any other tool. If you use Excel to analyze your data, you will put that into methodology. The important thing here: be transparent.
Use quote marks and in-text citations (such as ChatGPT (2025)) and include them in the list of references.
Below is an example of how to correctly reference AI assistance in academic writing in APA 7 Citation Format:
ChatGPT. (2025, February 5). Response to query on FDI project strategy. OpenAI. Personal communication.
4. Some use cases of AI usage you may ask about:
- grammar and spelling feedback – using tools such as Grammarly – normally, this use case does not generate a high probability of AI-generated content for your work, as it does not change the entire text, but rather bits and pieces of it. However, you need to be transparent about it by putting a disclaimer in your work (dissertation or assignment).
- translation – just use Google Translate. As of now, it is more reliable, and it has a track record of human feedback on its translations for the past 10 years. It has an AI layer, but it does not appear as AI-generated content. HOWEVER, as students in a program in English, you should be capable of writing directly in English, not doing your assignments in other languages and relying on translation tools.
- outlining, checking fluency and logic, creating and checking structure, identifying gaps in your analysis, and providing explanations for concepts – these are all acceptable ways in which you may use GenAI in your education. Focus on using AI to enhance your ideas and boost your creativity, not for content generation.
- brainstorming with AI is suitable ONLY IF it is a starting point, not the end result.
- paraphrasing AI-generated content is just like paraphrasing content from another source – it helps you avoid plagiarism detectors, but it is not acceptable as an academic practice.
- reading out loud an AI-generated text during a presentation/dissertation defense is unacceptable.
We understand that GenAI is rapidly growing and shifting, and guidelines may need to be adjusted as new developments emerge. There is still a large debate on regulating it, providing tools to enforce its responsible and ethical use in academia, and so on. That is why there is no proper encompassing policy to refer to. However, it all bottles down to academic integrity, which resides on the core values of fairness, honesty, originality, responsibility, accountability, respect and trust in presenting one’s own work while properly acknowledging others’ contributions. This, ultimately, allows for the proper output of the educational process (and our master’s program): you knowing something at a professional level.
Lastly, ”Use AI as a tool, not a crutch” (Gemini, 2025, February 6).
