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Artificial Intelligence and Assessment

This guidance outlines how you can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) without breaking the rules on the University Rules & Regulations > student conduct webpage.

Understanding Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, Copilot, and Google Bard have attracted attention, with the suggestion that they will write your assignments for you. All of these can be helpful tools for generating content that might contribute to assessed work.

At Sheffield Hallam, we believe these tools are potentially transformative as well as disruptive; that they will feature in many academic and professional workplaces; and that rather than seek to prohibit your use of them, we will support you in using them effectively, ethically, and transparently.

The library has created a comprehensive guide to AI and its potential uses during your time at Hallam. It highlights good practices and warns about the limitations of AI.

Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity

It is important you do not use AI tools to generate an assignment and submit it as if it were your own work. Our regulations state:

Contract cheating/concerns over authorship: This form of misconduct involves another person (or artificial intelligence) creating the assignment which you then submit as your own.

Examples of this sort of misconduct include: buying an assignment from an 'essay mill'/professional writer; submitting an assignment which you have downloaded from a file-sharing site; acquiring an essay from another student or family member and submitting it as your own; attempting to pass off work created by artificial intelligence as your own. These activities show a clear intention to deceive the marker and are treated as misconduct.

Can you use AI-generated material in your work?

Your tutors should give you guidance about the level of AI which is allowed in your assessment task. This guidance on what is allowed and how to acknowledge any use of AI in your assessment should typically be included in your assessment brief. Your work will be marked according to the assessment criteria for each task, so it is important you read your assessment brief, and follow any AI-related guidance to succeed at the task and avoid academic misconduct.

Sometimes tutors may use the Artificial Intelligence Transparency Scale below to help communicate about how AI may be used, although they may use a different approach. If your tutor has not provided guidance on the use of AI-generated material for your assessment, please ask them. If in doubt, assume that AI cannot be used in your assessment task.

The Artificial Intelligence Transparency Scale

The Artificial Intelligence Transparency Scale (AITS) has been created at Sheffield Hallam University, and it uses 5 descriptors to communicate the way in which AI should be used and how it has been used. It can be used in other contexts as well as assessments.

 
AITS
Descriptor 
Transparency Statement 
AI Contributions
 Human Contribution
1 No AI Artificial Intelligence (AI) has not been used for any part of the activity.  AI is not used for any part of the activity. All aspects of the activity are human generated, created, edited, and developed.
2 AI for
Shaping		 AI has been used to shape the initial and/or final parts of the activity.  AI is used for shaping parts of the activity. This includes initial outlining, concept development, prompting thinking, and/or improving structure/quality of the final output. Most of the activity is human developed/generated. AI ideas and suggestions are refined and reviewed. AI outputs are used for discrete and specific goals/outcomes.
3  AI for Developing AI has been directed for enhanced development of concepts and outputs.  AI is used to undertake detailed development of many or most aspects of an activity and outputs of that activity. The human takes a significant role in the enhancement, refinement, and critical review of AI generated elements, combining or curating for any outputs.
4  AI for Enhancing AI has been implemented for all elements of the task. AI is used extensively throughout the task to achieve goals and outcomes.  The human directs the use of AI for effective outcomes within an activity. Critical thinking is evidenced for any outputs.
5  AI for Innovating AI has been used for all elements of a task or piece of work, and it has been used in new, creative, and innovative ways through advanced techniques. AI is implemented in an advanced and innovative way throughout all aspects of the activity.  AI is used creatively and critically by the human. The human uses AI a co-creator with a critical thinking approach to generating novel AI activities and outputs

Purvis, A. (2025). Artificial Intelligence Transparency Scale (AITS). National Teaching Repository.  

Acknowledging the use of AI in your work

If you have used AI in your work, you need to be clear about whether to reference your use of AI as a source, or to acknowledge your use of AI, or both. See the Library's guidance about when and how to reference AI.

If you are acknowledging the use of AI in your work, you should provide a statement about how you have used it.

Here is an example student statement about the use of AI (based on the AITS scale shown above):

AI Transparency Statement – AITS 2: AI for Shaping

I used AI at AITS 2 (AI for Shaping) of the Artificial Intelligence Transparency Scale (AITS). Specifically, I used ChatGPT to help brainstorm initial ideas and outline the structure of my essay. I did not use AI to write any part of the content or to edit the final version. My own contribution involved developing all arguments, conducting research, writing the full text, and critically evaluating the structure suggested by the AI. I used AI as a thinking partner to shape my approach, but all substantive content and analysis are my own.

 

Sheffield Hallam University wishes to gratefully acknowledge the work of the Senior Education Leadership team at UCL, as some of this guidance is based on their approach.