Understanding the role of Generative AI during your HDR studies
Using Generative AI responsibly in HDR research
Generative AI can support HDR candidates in aspects of their research and development. However, its use must be appropriate to the research context and comply with UOW policies, ethical requirements and responsible research practices.
When using generative AI, keep the following principles in mind:
1. Protect confidential and sensitive information: Do not enter personal, confidential, sensitive or controlled information, human research data, copyrighted material or intellectual property into third-party generative AI tools unless you have confirmed that doing so is permitted and appropriate.
2. Remain responsible for your work: Generative AI should support, rather than replace, your own critical thinking, judgement and scholarly contribution. You remain responsible for the content, accuracy and integrity of your research and research outputs.
3. Verify AI-generated content: Generative AI can produce inaccurate, incomplete, biased or fabricated information and references. Carefully check and verify all outputs before relying on or using them in your research.
4. Consider ethical and research integrity requirements: Before using generative AI in research activities, particularly for data collection, analysis or research involving human participants, consider whether its use is appropriate and seek advice from your supervisor or relevant UOW support area where needed.
5. Be transparent about your use of AI: If you use generative AI in your research or thesis, you must disclose its use in accordance with UOW requirements and any relevant disciplinary, publisher or assessment requirements. For your thesis, this includes a Generative AI Statement that either clearly acknowledges and appropriately references any use of generative AI tools, including, how the tool(s) were used in the preparation of the thesis; or confirm that no generative AI tools were used in the preparation of the thesis.
Statement examples: AiHDR | Gen AI attribution statement examples for thesis
The Gen AI attribution statement should sit at the front of the thesis, in the certification section.
Please find below attribution use and example Gen AI attribution statements:
- When Gen AI has not been used:
"No content produced by generative AI tools has been used in the preparation of this thesis".
- When Gen AI has been used for minimal copyediting:
"During the preparation of this thesis, [name of tool or service] was used to assist with [e.g. improving sentence structure, grammar, spelling or paraphrasing]. The use of generative AI was limited to [briefly describe where and how it was used]. All AI-generated or modified content was reviewed by the author for accuracy, errors, bias and appropriate meaning. The author takes full responsibility for the final submitted work and confirms that the thesis represents their own work and that generative AI has been used in accordance with University requirements".
- When Gen AI has been used as part of the integral research design:
"During the preparation of this thesis, [name of tool or service] was used as part of the integral research design. Its use is described in the methodology section [and/or specify relevant chapter(s)]. Any text, figures, results or other content generated using the tool are appropriately identified and referenced. The author takes full responsibility for the final submitted work and confirms that generative AI has been used in accordance with University requirements".
