Students to be expelled if caught using ChatGPT, AI software at Chinese University of Hong Kong, new guide reveals

Calling AI ‘double-edged sword’, university says unauthorised use of AI tools will be treated as plagiarism, but students can use them with permission

University is fourth in city to take formal stance on powerful new software, with one saying it planned to embrace generative AI tools in long term

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Chinese University has said it will devise measures to detect whether students have used AI tools in their work and also improve its existing plagiarism detection software. Photo: dpa

Published: 7:35pm, 13 Mar 2023Updated: 10:23am, 14 Mar 2023

Students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) may be expelled if they are found to have used artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including ChatGPT, improperly or without authorisation in their work, according to new guidelines from the institution.

The university said it would devise measures to detect whether students had used AI tools in their work and improve its existing plagiarism detection software.

The city’s second-oldest university last week released a guide for using AI tools in teaching, learning and undergoing assessments with the aim of optimising the use of the technology in education.

In a reply to media inquiries on March 2, it said students would need permission from tutors before using ChatGPT, a powerful AI conversational bot, for assignments.

The city’s second-oldest university last week released a guide for using AI tools in teaching, learning and assessments. Photo: Shutterstock

“AI is a double-edged sword; we should use but not abuse it, use it as a research but not a cheating tool, and most importantly, use AI to think with you, but not for you,” the guidelines state.