Tech Tools: AI and Assignments

Can I use AI?

Though Artificial Intelligence (AI) can create information and help with such things as writing, researching, coding, spelling, grammar etc, it is a tool. It is not a substitute for writing your assignment unless your assignment question states you can use it or you have an assignment about the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT.

Whitireia and WelTec have Academic Integrity Procedures that state the work you hand in has to be your own. If you have used AI in any way, you need to be transparent about how you have used it and give credit to the original author by referencing information correctly. This avoids being accused of academic misconduct and/or plagiarism.

Different programmes may have different positions on the use of AI. Check with your kaiako/tutor to see if they have any guidelines on its use before starting your assignment.

Keep draft copies of your assignments that show your writing and research process. You may need to show kaiako/tutors that what you have written is your own work.

Be transparent. You may be asked to declare the AI tools you have used and how. 

Turnitin.  If you use AI, you will get a very high AI count. You cannot see your AI score but your kaiako can. For help on submitting an assignment and Turnitin, click here.

Do not upload journal articles or published content that comes from library databases, ebook collections, online journals, standards etc to AI. This is a breach of copyright as the library has agreed to terms and conditions of use for many of its e-resources.

Is my information safe? Do not upload your personal information or any personal information of case studies or research participants to AI. Any information or data uploaded could be shared, sold on or used to train its algorithms (This means your personal information or work could be used to create data for other users of the AI tool).

More...

See the following tabs: 

• AI Introduction
• Using AI Responsibly
• AI and Ethics and Privacy
• AI and Copyright 
• AI and Referencing

You can use referencing software such as Mendeley and Zotero to help collate and reference your work. They can produce an AI count in Turnitin, so talk to your tutor or supervisor about declaring their use. Also remember these references are machine generated so may not always be correct.  Check the APA Referencing guide before submitting any work.

Note. AI tool quickguide. Adapted from Academic Integrity: Using AI Tools for Assignments by Wintec, 2024 (https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/academic-integrity/using-ai-tools). Reprinted with permission.

Tools such as Grammarly, Quillbot etc will be picked up as AI. Check with your kaiako/tutor to see if they have any guidelines on their use before starting your assignment. 

Grammarly

Some Schools say you need to add a brief declaration of how you have used Grammarly, even if you have used it for editing purposes only, i.e. spelling and grammar.

Appropriate use of Grammarly for assignments

Use Grammarly in the following way to avoid issues around academic misconduct:

1. Turn off automatic suggestions that occur as you write - in other words, complete the first draft of your assignment without any help from Grammarly.

2. Save this draft and keep it as a raw (untouched by Grammarly) document that you can produce as proof of your original work if you are interviewed by your kaiako about AI use.

3. Use Grammarly for checking spelling and grammar only. 

4. Save the edited version as a separate document to your original one.

Inappropriate use of Grammarly for assignments

You must produce writing that has been written by you and is in your own voice. Grammarly has new AI functionality, that if used, would produce writing that would not be considered your own.

Grammarly tools to avoid:

• autocompleting sentences
• tone changing tools - getting Grammarly to change the tone and style of your writing to "academic" or "formal" language, for example
• any type of paraphrasing tools, including English fluency - remember, the work must be your writing, in your own voice
• first draft generation - all drafts must be your own work
• Grammarly generative AI tool - this can be used to evaluate your writing, or brainstorm ideas, but it must not be used for creating any content for your assignments

Grammarly Privacy Policy

Quillbot or other paraphrasing tools

Quillbot is a paraphrasing tool. Using it is considered inappropriate use of AI. By using Quillbot, you are not demonstrating to your kaiako/tutor that you have understood the concepts in the original source. 

[Adapted from Wintec Academic Intergity: Using AI tools for assignments. Used with permission]

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI assistant created by Microsoft to work with Microsoft 365 apps. It has been developed to help search for specific information, create and summarise text and create images based on text prompts. The technology is based on machine learning and is similar to ChatGPT. The free version of copilot accesses the internet but not MS Office 365. The paid version, Copilot for Microsoft 365 gets its information from the internet and is connected to the Microsoft graph so all the data in your MS Office 365 suite (organisational data) e.g. Office documents, One Drive, emails, Teams, SharePoint etc. Its knowledge is everything that you as a logged in user has access to and is inside your apps (NB. It has a disclaimer stating you need to check for mistakes).

Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat is a conversational AI assistant built directly into Microsoft 365 apps. It appears as a sidebar in Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, helping you with tasks such as drafting emails, analysing data, and summarising documents. You will also be able to access Copilot Chat from the Microsoft 365 homepage.  Once activated, you’ll see the Copilot icon in the top navigation ribbon of your Microsoft 365 apps.

Third-party AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude operate outside Whitireia & WelTec's institutional environment and may store or use information for other purposes. When used for work-related content, this introduces privacy and compliance risks, especially for sensitive information about students, staff, and the organisation.

Microsoft Copilot Chat helps address these risks because it’s now included with Whitireia & WelTec's existing Microsoft 365 subscription and operates entirely within our secure environment. Copilot respects your existing access levels and is protected by the same enterprise-grade safeguards that already secure your emails, Teams messages, OneDrive, and SharePoint files. This means you can safely use AI assistance for work-related tasks. Microsoft Copilot Chat will be the only AI tool supported and officially approved by ICT Services for work-related use.

 What Copilot can do

Copilot works directly inside the Microsoft 365 apps you already use. Here are some examples:

Assignment Writing or Research

 All work you hand in must be your own. Therefore, if you have

• Used Copilot for Microsoft 365 or Copilot Chat to help create, rewrite, generate, paraphrase or suggest information, you need to reference that content by including an in-text citation and reference list entry. See How to Reference Copilot for Microsoft 365 in the APA Guide
• Always review AI-generated content before using it. Copilot assists your work but doesn't replace professional judgment, particularly when handling sensitive information or making decisions that require institutional context
• If you use copilot for finding information, you need to check all information for inaccuracies. Click on any references provided to go to the original source

How to remove the Copilot for Microsoft 365 icon from Microsoft Edge:

• Open the Microsoft Edge web browser and click on the main 3-dots menu button present at the right-side of the toolbar
• Select the Settings option from the main menu
• Click the Sidebar tab or section present in the left-side pane of the Settings page
• Under the App and notification settings section, click the Copilot option
• Turn off the "Show Copilot" toggle switch to remove the button from the top-right on Microsoft Edge
• (Optional) Turn off the "Always show sidebar" toggle switch to remove the sidebar on the right

Please Note: You cannot remove the feature from the browser as it's built in, but you can hide all mention of it.

How to turn off Copilot in Microsoft 365 Family and Personal Subscriptions

• Click here to go to information provided by Microsoft

[Copilot Chat information by Josh Clements, ICT Services. Reprinted with permission].

Panchal, J. (2024, February 23). A 3d rendered image of FACT and FAKE word toggle switches [Photograph].  Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/two-buttons-with-the-words-fact-and-fake-on-them-Lj8Q3vZ5vYA

AI has its strengths, but it also has its limitations. Open GenAI tools scrape the internet for information. This may be good information, but it also could be misinformation and disinformation. AI is evolving at a rapid rate but it is still software that cannot tell if the information is accurate or not, even if it sounds convincing (Cottrell, 2024). You have to check the ethics, the accuracy and the references of any information that has been AI generated.

If you use AI, you are responsible for any inaccuracies (O'Leary, 2024). 

Limitations of AI

• It does not critically think or critically analyse information
• It creates information that might seem okay and convincing but because it is machine generated and cannot 'think', the information can be inaccurate, bias or made up
• Its only as good as the prompts you give it

Strengths of AI

• Helps with time-consuming tasks
• Can reduce human error in data collection and analysis
• Can help with brainstorming ideas and keywords
• Can help with understanding or summarising complex topics

Some Schools say you need to add a brief statement on your assignment stating whether or not you have used AI tools in the writing or editing of your work.

Some library databases are now incorporating AI tools which act as research assistants. If you have used AI tools to help produce information, create a paraphrase, or you have quoted from ChatGPT, AI-powered research assistants or any other software, you need to include an in-text citation and reference list entry. If you are citing an AI summary based on a document, you should also cite the document the AI summary is based on. See AI and Referencing for advice on how to do this.