Instructions on the Use of AI by the ITSC Research Group
We consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) not a passing trend but a technology that will continue to evolve and remain a part of our digital landscape. As such, it is neither practical nor beneficial to ignore its existence or potential. Instead, we recognize the importance of engaging with AI thoughtfully and responsibly. By allowing and incorporating its use into scientific work, we aim to equip students with the skills to critically and ethically harness these tools, ensuring they can contribute meaningfully to research and innovation.
Therefore, the use of AI tools is permitted to support and assist in the preparation of BSc, MSc, and seminar theses supervised by our research group.
Importantly: AI may be used as a support tool, but the primary analysis and understanding must be done independently.
AI outputs can contain inaccuracies, biases, or incomplete information. Students must critically evaluate, verify, and reflect upon all information generated by AI systems before incorporating it into their academic work. This process is essential for scientific work and must become clear in the thesis. Students remain fully responsible for the content and intellectual rigor of their submitted thesis. The permission is conditional on strictly adhering to the following instructions.
Transparency and Attribution:
- Disclose all AI tools used to prepare your thesis in an appendix or a designated disclosure statement.
- Specify precisely how and to what extent the AI tools were used (e.g., drafting text, summarizing articles, generating ideas, editing, proofreading, or coding).
- Create a log of all prompts and the corresponding outputs in a separate .pdf file. This log must show that the student has critically evaluated, verified, and reflect upon all information generated by the AI.
Critical Reflection and Verification:
- Do not rely uncritically on AI-generated content. You must critically assess, fact-check, and verify all AI -generated content through reliable academic sources and the thesis must document this process.
- Explicitly reflect on how AI-generated information influenced your understanding and interpretation of your research topic.
- It is your responsibility to clarify in the thesis how any information generated by AI systems is critically evaluated, verified, and reflected upon before incorporating it in the thesis.
Academic Integrity:
- AI-generated text or ideas must be integrated carefully and meaningfully into your original analysis and argumentation.
- AI must not substitute independent research, literature review, critical thinking, and original insights expected at your academic level.
Ethics:
- Mark AI -produced content according to academic standards for citation and attribution. Ensure all AI-assisted content is appropriately referenced.
- Do not present AI-generated text or ideas as your original work. Always differentiate your contributions from those generated by AI.
These guidelines aim to enable you to harness AI's potential to enrich your academic work while maintaining high standards of critical thinking, research integrity, and academic responsibility.
The use of AI should always be understood as a supplement to your own learning process, never as a replacement.
University Guidelines
The university guidlines for the use of AI can be found here: https://uniservice-dl.uni-wuppertal.de/de/ki-handreichungen/.
Declaration on Use of Generative AI
Students writing seminar, bachelor, or masters theses with our group, need to add the following declaration to their thesis:
I hereby declare that I have followed the university’s guidelines and the instructions of the ITSC research group for AI use.
