As with most online services and software, Generative AI tools usually feature terms and conditions of use. For each AI-based tool you decide to use, it is a good idea to read these and judge for yourself if you think they will protect your information and privacy, will produce the types of information you need, and have a goal and purpose that sits comfortably with you.

Protecting your information and rights

You should always be very careful providing third party tools - including AI - with sensitive personal information. The same also applies to any information about other people, including your students, or any intellectual property they have produced.

Think carefully before you create an account with any tools that require you to log in. Does the platform have a data protection and privacy policy – will sharing and uploading information lead to harm or impact anyone’s freedoms or rights?
Where possible, opt out of data collection. For example, ChatGPT allows you to turn off chat history which means your conversations won't be stored or used to train their AI models.
Avoid sharing sensitive or protected data. This includes personally identifiable information, names, addresses, unpublished research data and results, biometric data, health and medical information, geolocation data, government-issued personal identifiers, confidential or commercially sensitive material, unpublished exams, student-produced assignment submissions, or information related to security credentials.
Be aware of copyrighted materials. As with the reuse of any type of media, you shouldn't share or enter as a prompt copyrighted materials such as images, webpage content, or text from a book or journal article, unless you can be confident that the information will not be used for another purpose. For example, if you are using information sources that you have gathered from Library resources and databases such as e-books, journal articles, market research, company information or mapping data, these will be protected by copyright and subject to licences that restrict how the content can be shared and reused.

Considering the ethical implications

In addition to privacy and intellectual property concerns, AI requires substantial computational resources and materials to operate efficiently - which means running the models can be extremely expensive and damaging to the environment. AI may also displace jobs, and have an impact on the daily lives of millions.

Time also reported in January 2023 (read the full report) that OpenAI, the organisation that created ChatGPT, outsourced the task of labelling textual descriptions of hate speech, violence and abuse to a firm in Kenya. The poorly paid workers faced disturbing and traumatic content while performing their duties, with little to no protection or care given to their wellbeing. The Time article highlights the reliance of AI systems on hidden human labour, which can be exploitative and damaging.

Make sure you are approaching AI with ethical principles in mind such as wellbeing, human-centred values, fairness, privacy, reliability, transparency and accountability. By considering these principles, individuals and organisations can ensure everyone benefits from the societal benefits of AI.

Maintaining good academic practice

Universities, lecturers and students are facing many challenges around the use of Generative AI for learning and teaching, and at the moment, Newcastle University, along with our peers across the UK, is working to establish our approach. Although our position and colleague/student guidance is now far stronger than it was, there are still potential issues around areas such as plagiarism, ethics, infringement of intellectual property, misrepresentation of an author's work, and critical evaluation.

This is a rapidly changing area, and the most important issue for you to consider as an educator is how to maintain the efficacy of teaching and assessment during this time of change. You will find out more about how to have robust conversations with students around academic integrity, and how to encourage responsible use of AI, in a later section.