I'm not sure how I'm allowed to use AI tools
Find out what the rules that apply to you say, and use AI tools in ways you can explain and defend.
In short
Start here, today. Find your university's current written guidance on AI tools for research and theses (try the graduate school, library or academic integrity pages) and save a copy with today's date. Write down anything that's unclear so you can ask your supervisor. This takes about 30 minutes.
After that, work through these steps. Choose one to jump to it.
Step by step
Tick each step as you finish it. Open a step for the how.
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Read the policies that apply to you
Look for guidance at every level: university, graduate school, department, any course you're taking, and the thesis regulations. If you plan to publish, check the author guidelines of your target journals too. Note the date on each document, because they're being revised often.
Talk to your supervisor openly
Ask how they see AI tools in your field and what they'd be comfortable with in your thesis and in papers you write together. Be specific: “Can I use it to help debug my R code?” gets a clearer answer than “Can I use AI?”. If English isn't your first language, ask about language editing separately, since some policies treat it differently from generating content. Record what you agree in your Decision Log.
Keep a record of your use
Note which tool you used, for what task, roughly when, and what you did with the output. It takes a minute and means you can answer honestly if an examiner, editor or committee member asks. It also makes any required disclosure statement easy to write.
Protect data and confidential material
Never paste participant data, interview transcripts, other people's unpublished work, manuscripts you're reviewing or anything under a confidentiality agreement into any AI tool your university and ethics approval haven't cleared for that kind of material. Your ethics approval and data management plan may restrict this explicitly. If your university provides an approved tool, ask what kinds of data it's cleared for.
Verify everything
AI tools can invent references, misattribute claims and state errors with complete confidence. Check every citation against the original source, and never cite a paper you haven't opened yourself. Treat any summary, code or calculation as a draft you are fully responsible for.
Keep the argument your own
Use tools around the edges of the thinking, not in place of it. Your questions, interpretations and argument need to come from you, because you'll have to explain and defend them at your defence or viva without help. If you couldn't explain a sentence or a line of code in your own words, it doesn't belong in your thesis yet.
Disclose where required
If your university, a journal or a funder asks for a statement on AI use, write a short, factual one based on your record. Publishers commonly say AI tools can't be listed as authors, so responsibility for the text stays with you. When the rules are unclear, ask before you submit rather than after.
Words you can use
Is this you? Signs to look for
- You've used a chatbot to tidy a paragraph and aren't sure whether you should say so.
- Your university's guidance seems to say one thing and your supervisor another.
- You'd like to use AI for coding, transcription or language editing, but you're worried about getting it wrong.
- Some of your peers use these tools openly and others treat them as cheating.
- You don't know whether a journal will accept work that involved them.
Why this happens
There isn't one rule. Policies on AI tools differ between universities, and within a university they can differ by program, course and supervisor. Journals, publishers, funders and ethics boards have their own positions as well. Most of this guidance is recent and still changing, so what applied to a friend last year may not apply to you now.
The uncertainty pushes people to extremes. Some avoid the tools completely and worry they're falling behind. Others use them quietly and hope nobody asks. What actually protects you is knowing the written rules, being open with your supervisor and keeping a simple record of what you did.
Underneath the rules sits a simpler question: is the thinking in your thesis yours? A PhD shows that you can frame a question, build an argument and judge evidence. Using a tool to check grammar or find a bug in your code is a very different thing from using one to write your argument or summarise papers you haven't read.
Worth a look (4)
- COPE, Committee on Publication EthicsGuidance on publication ethics, including its position on AI tools and authorship.
- Shut Up & Write!Free writing sessions, online and in person in over 80 countries, where you write quietly alongside others for a set time. It's a gentle push when you keep putting off your thesis.
- FocusmateBook a short video session with another person, say what you'll work on, then work quietly side by side. The free plan gives you three sessions a week.
- Time managementVitae's guide to managing research time, with simple techniques like logging your hours, separating urgent from important, and working back from deadlines.
When to bring someone in
If the guidance is unclear or contradictory, ask your graduate coordinator or graduate school for an answer in writing. A librarian can point you to current publisher and journal policies, and your research ethics office can tell you whether a tool is suitable for your data. If you're worried you've already used a tool in a way that breaks the rules, talk to your supervisor early rather than waiting for someone else to raise it.
Find the right person, or talk to Ify