Many of the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI are not new. Concerns for intellectual property, privacy, and academic integrity are similar to those for information retrieved from other sources or work represented as one's own. NIC has several existing policies in place relevant to the use of AI by students and faculty. This list is not intended to be exhaustive and is provided solely to provide examples. If you have questions about NIC policy please contact the Office of Finance and Business.
2.03.03 Intellectual Property:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/20303/
2.03.04 Copyright and Fair Use:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/20304/
3.08.01 Acceptable Use:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/30801/
3.08.03 Data Stewardship, Security, and Protection:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/30803/
3.11 Privacy (Confidentiality of Personal Information):
https://nic.edu/policy/all/311/
3.11.01 Privacy of Health Information (HIPAA):
https://nic.edu/policy/all/31101/
5.06 Student Code of Conduct:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/506/
5.06.01 Academic Integrity:
https://nic.edu/policy/all/50601/
The conversation about the ethical use of AI is ongoing. Large Language Models and the AI tools that manipulate them are known to have issues surrounding bias, privacy (including HIPAA and FERPA), intellectual property, plagiarism, and more. This page offers links to resources outside of NIC relevant to some of the potential ethical issues arising from student and faculty use of generative AI tools and is updated periodically. The issue of Academic Integrity, focused on plagiarism and academic honesty, is featured on its own page.
Cornell University Center for Teaching and Learning, Ethical AI for Teaching and Learning: https://teaching.cornell.edu/generative-artificial-intelligence/ethical-ai-teaching-and-learning
The Alan Turing Institute, Understanding Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Safety: https://www.turing.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-08/understanding_artificial_intelligence_ethics_and_safety.pdf
Bias
OpenAI, Is ChatGPT Biased?: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313359-is-chatgpt-biased
Scientific American, ChatGPT Replicates Gender Bias in Recommendation Letters: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chatgpt-replicates-gender-bias-in-recommendation-letters/
Copyright
ArsTechnica, Why The New York Times might win its copyright lawsuit against OpenAI.
Bloomberg Law, Copyright Chaos: Legal Implications of Generative AI: https://www.bloomberglaw.com/external/document/XDDQ1PNK000000/copyrights-professional-perspective-copyright-chaos-legal-implic
Creative Commons, Fair Use: Training Generative AI: https://creativecommons.org/2023/02/17/fair-use-training-generative-ai/
Privacy
Axios, Generative AI's Privacy Problem
Forbes, Privacy and Security Issues of Using AI for Academic Purposes
Stanford Institute for Human Centered AI, Privacy in an AI Era: How Do We Protect Our Personal Information?