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Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to generate original content, including text, images, computer code, audio, and graphics, in response to user prompts. OpenAI released ChatGPT, its AI-powered chatbot with a user-friendly interface, to the public in November 2022. Since then, the availability of public generative AI tools, such as Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Anthropic Claude, has grown exponentially. The landscape of generative AI continues to evolve, with many new companies and applications emerging across industries.
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have the ability to generate human-like responses to natural language questions and prompts input by a user. To do so, these large language models train on large amounts of language data from a variety of sources. User input may also be stored or used to improve the system. During training, the model learns statistical patterns about language, including which words tend to follow which other words in which situations.
Like any new technology, generative AI presents many opportunities, questions, and challenges. The transformative possibilities of AI are exciting, especially in education. However, using AI in the wrong way can be a disservice to your education if you rely on technology to short-circuit your learning. We’ll discuss what this means in more detail below. For now, consider the following reasons why learning how to use AI ethically and appropriately is a smart idea:
Workplace skill: Comfort with generative AI technology may be useful in the workplace because of its ability to enhance productivity. Many employers value people who can use workplace tools effectively and with integrity—so it’s a good idea to start developing these skills now.
Academic integrity: Knowing how to use AI ethically and appropriately will help you to follow the letter and spirit of Sophia’s Code of Conduct
and Academic Integrity Policy, which focus on respect, honesty, and the quality of your educational experience.
Ongoing success: Many degree-granting institutions are thinking about and monitoring the ethical and appropriate use of these tools, so learning to use them responsibly now is important for progress along a higher education path.
This tutorial will help you follow the Sophia Honor Code by providing you with the tools you need to identify the difference between ethical and unethical applications of AI in your education. It will also support your success in school or in the workplace by helping you to act with personal and academic integrity.
A good strategy to evaluate whether you’re using AI in an ethical way is to ask whether or not it’s helping you build the knowledge and skills you’re seeking to acquire. Although many skills are subject-specific, such as computer coding, mathematical operations, or speaking a second language, other skills are more general, such as the ability to:
EXAMPLE
Felicia is writing a research-based argumentative essay for her history class. She aims to improve her skills in the areas of historical research and supporting arguments with evidence. She starts by outlining her thesis statement, several key points that support her thesis, and evidence that supports those key points. Her instructor encourages her to input her outline to ChatGPT and ask it to suggest counterarguments that she hasn’t considered. Felicia reviews the tool’s suggestions and determines which ones are valid. By doing so, she is able to find more historical evidence to refute these counterarguments, making her essay even stronger.EXAMPLE
For his final exam, Dominic has to write a simple computer program that will solve a real-world problem or automate an everyday activity. He’s having trouble getting started, so he asks ChatGPT to help him brainstorm ideas for problems that he could try to solve. Once he settles on an idea, he sits down and starts designing and writing the code himself.Here are more ethical ways that generative AI tools could be used to support or facilitate your personal and academic growth:
Even so, keep in mind that these uses are not always appropriate in every case. Remember, the key is to reflect on the learning outcome of the assignment, task, or activity, and to evaluate whether your plans for how to use AI will encourage your learning or get in the way of it. If you’re enrolled in a degree-granting institution now or in the future, you should also refer to your institution’s policies or check with your instructor to confirm what is or is not allowed.
EXAMPLE
Farah has to write an essay in the narrative mode for her English Composition class. She asks ChatGPT to give her a sample essay so she can review it and try to identify its use of the narrative writing techniques she learned. Then, with renewed confidence, she opens a new document on her desktop and starts planning her own, original narrative essay.A big part of using AI ethically and appropriately is approaching it with a critical eye. In this way, AI is similar to the internet. You already know that when you search for information on the internet, you can’t take everything at face value. You need to verify that the webpages you go to are credible and that the information you read is accurate by evaluating the authors and checking to see if other reliable sources say the same thing.
One of the major limitations of large language models is that they produce plausible and logical-sounding content that makes it hard to identify inaccurate information. However, they are known to provide false information or to simply make things up. The output of generative AI must be authenticated. Remember that these models cannot independently verify whether their information is accurate or not, so put on your fact-checking hat.
Unethical and inappropriate uses of AI are those that get in the way of or replace the learning process. The most obvious unethical use is presenting the output of a generative AI tool as your own.
EXAMPLE
Adam’s instructor gives his business management class a case study and asks the students to make strategy recommendations for increasing the company’s market share. Adam prompts ChatGPT to analyze the case study and make recommendations for him. He copies the output word-for-word and submits it on the due date.EXAMPLE
Like Farah, Mizuki has to write an essay in the narrative mode for her English Composition class. She asks ChatGPT to write a narrative essay about a memorable trip to Paris. She copies the output, changes certain details here and there to personalize it and to meet the assignment instructions, and submits it to her instructor.Both of these are examples of plagiarism—the act of presenting someone else's *or an AI tool's) ideas or writing as your own. Even though AI is not a person, the same rules apply.
Plagiarism occurs when you copy words or ideas from a source without giving it credit, or when the words or ideas from one or more sources comprise the majority of your work, whether credit is given to those sources or not. Plagiarism can be avoided by acknowledging the source of words or ideas that are not your own, and by ensuring that your work showcases your own words and ideas too.
Often, assignments will require some element of research. It is also inappropriate to use AI to shortcut the research process.
EXAMPLE
For part of her presentation, Carla has to summarize three scholarly articles that support her thesis. Rather than do the research, Carla asks ChatGPT to give her three references that relate to her topic and a brief summary of each. What Carla doesn’t realize is that two of the articles are not even real! It turns out that ChatGPT “hallucinated” them, meaning it made them up. If she’d taken the time to find and read real scholarly articles, she could have avoided having to redo her assignment.Remember, AI is at times a reasonable starting point for information, but it should never be used without verifying the accuracy of its information. Generative AI tools have a lot of potential for transforming how we work and learn, but they are not a substitute for critical thinking or for human creativity and expression. Using these tools unethically or inappropriately can set you up for failure by impeding your learning and by negatively impacting your grade.
You have learned that you should not use AI to replace the learning process or short-circuit your critical thinking. If you use AI in your work, you should always consider whether such use is ethical. Remember, too, that different institutions, academic instructors, and even workplaces may have different policies regarding AI use, so you should always check what is or is not allowed in each context.
You have also learned that there are legitimate ways to use AI as a student. When you do, ethical use calls for transparency. Being transparent about how AI shaped your work takes two forms. AI disclosure describes how you used an AI tool while producing a piece of work. It explains the tool’s contribution to your process. This is different from a citation, which acknowledges or references AI as a source of specific information or content that appears in the work.
It’s not always clear or easy to decide when which is needed. Depending on whether and how you use generative AI in your work, you might need one, both, or neither of these. If you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or incorporate specific language, ideas, or other data from an AI tool, include a citation. If the tool only helped with brainstorming, proofreading, or finding research sources, you generally do not need to cite it, but you should be prepared to disclose or explain your process if asked.
Here are some examples of when you should disclose your use of AI:
A disclosure is written in your own words and does not follow a fixed format. It should be accurate and specific, describing which tool you used, what you asked it to do, what you did with what it gave you, and what work remained your own. A common convention is to put the statement at the beginning or end of your work. Wherever you place it, it should be easy to find and should not be hidden in a way that makes it difficult to identify.
EXAMPLE
“I used ChatGPT to suggest possible topics to research. I selected and researched the final topic and wrote, structured, and proofread all of the content.”An in-text citation should be used to formally credit AI tools when their wording or ideas appear in your work. In-text citations appear within the text of an essay or other piece of writing. Whenever in-text citations are used, a reference page must also be provided. The reference page includes properly formatted bibliographic data for all cited sources.
At Sophia, citations for AI-generated content use APA style. The current APA guidance on AI is to cite the specific conversation (chat) rather than the AI tool in general if the tool lets you share a link to it (McAdoo et al., 2025). If the tool does not let you generate and share a link for a specific chat, cite the tool in general.
According to current APA guidelines, reference page entries for AI tools should include the following elements:
| APA Style Reference Entry for a Specific Chat | |
|---|---|
| Style | AI Company Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of chat in italics [Generative AI chat]. Tool Name. URL of the chat |
| Example | OpenAI. (2026, March 15). Objections to municipal broadband expansion [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. https://chatgpt.com/share/example-link |
| APA Style Reference Entry for the Tool in General | |
|---|---|
| Style | AI Company Name. (Year, Month Day). Tool name in italics [Large language model]. URL of the tool |
| Example | Google. (2026, May 4). Gemini [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com |
In-text citations follow the APA pattern of including the author and date, using the company as the author. A parenthetical citation looks like this: (OpenAI, 2026).
You’ve already learned about some of the shortcomings of generative AI, such as its potential to make up facts, communicate misinformation, and “hallucinate” sources. You’ve also learned that relying too much on AI can be counterproductive to your own learning. There are a few other hazards to be aware of:
Plagiarism detection software: Generative AI tools have a tendency to use the same or similar language in response to basic prompts. Relying on it too much may trigger negative outcomes like being flagged for plagiarism by plagiarism detection software. Plagiarism detection software works by comparing submitted work against written content on the internet or other work that has previously been submitted to its database and highlighting matches. Chatbots will recycle information, which could trigger a high plagiarism score with these anti-plagiarism programs. Remember that plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's ideas or writing as your own and is unacceptable in any form, regardless of whether it is identified by plagiarism detection software or not.
Privacy concerns: These large language models learn from their users. What you put in becomes part of its learning, meaning there is a risk of your own words coming back as a plagiarism flag because another AI user has been given them. Chatbots can also disclose your private information if you enter it, so always be cautious about sharing sensitive information.
Bias and other data set limitations: Large language models absorb the biases of the data set they were trained on. As a result, they have the potential to perpetuate harmful stereotypes or discriminatory attitudes. Their output is dependent on the quality and recency of their data set, and on the quality of the user’s prompts.
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REFERENCES
McAdoo, T., Denneny, S., & Lee, C. (2025, September 9). Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1—Reference formats. American Psychological Association. www.apastyle.apa.org/blog/cite-generative-ai-references/
