BeADisciple Plagiarism and AI Use Policy

 

Use of External Sources: The International Center for Academic Integrity defines academic integrity as a commitment to five values: trust, fairness, respect, honesty, and responsibility.

For all BeADisciple courses, academic integrity means:

• trusting God to be in our own words and our own ideas as well as in the discussions we have with others
• fairly evaluating the words and ideas of others in readings and in discussions
• respecting each person for sharing the truth of their lives and ideas, whether they are the same as ours or not
• being honest about words or ideas we express that are not our own original work
• taking responsibility for acknowledging all ideas and words that come from another source, giving others credit for the work that they have done, and recognizing the power of God at work in them, as well as in us.

On AI use: AI-generated text has complicated the conversation over what can be counted as one’s own work. While a rapidly developing issue, we ask that BeADisciple learners abstain from the use of generative AI (like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, etc.) for posts, assignments, and responses, for at least the following reasons:

1. Copyright: Popular AI models continue to be trained on a significant amount of material otherwise subject to copyright law. Currently there is little regulation, meaning that generated text will often make use of material published by working authors and artists without attribution. Therefore, AI output will likely have been generated from published and often copyrighted text. For us, this fits squarely within the definition of plagiarism.
2. Inaccurate information: The accuracy of generated output in AI models is, with increasing recognition, often poor and may include fabricated quotes and citations that appear legitimate. A generated output might say something about a historical figure, for example, that reads as accurate but is, in fact, entirely false. This is not always the case but is so often enough to warrant its prohibition.
3. Loss of learner voice: Arguably the most important reason for abstaining from AI generated content is simply that it is more valuable to hear what a learner actually thinks on a topic over what a chatbot determines is best. When one reposts the latter, we lose the precious value of a learner’s actual voice. Original work honors the intent of BeADisciple courses to nurture and strengthen the critical lens through which we experience, view, and share our faith.

While we note the potential value of generative AI in some uses, the Institute for Discipleship is in the business of personal, professional, and spiritual growth and we do not want our learners to offload the development of their critical thinking and writing skills to an algorithm in the name of convenience. AI models can mimic human writing and speech well enough to make its recognition extremely difficult, and so we ask learners to approach this matter in good faith – to engage our discussions with personal words and hard-earned thought, rather than deferring to artificial intelligence for their work.