Cited by 272Artificial Intelligence in EducationAcademic integrity and plagiarismArtificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education

Generative AI in higher education: Seeing ChatGPT through universities' policies, resources, and guidelines

Open access
Wang, Hui, Dang, Anh, Wu, Zihao, Mac, Son·2024·Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The advancements in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) can provide opportunities for enriching educational experiences, but at the same time raise concerns regarding academic integrity. Many educators have expressed anxiety and hesitation when it comes to integrating GenAI in their teaching practices. Thus, recommendations and guidance from institutions are needed to support instructors in this new and emerging GenAI era. In response to this need, this study explores different U.S. universities' academic policies and guidelines regarding the use of GenAI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) for teaching and learning, and from there, gains understanding of how these universities respond and adapt to the development of GenAI in their academic contexts. Data sources include academic policies, statements, guidelines, and relevant resources provided by the top 100 universities in the U.S. Results show that the majority of these universities adopt an open but cautious approach towards GenAI. Primary concerns lie in ethical usage, accuracy, and data privacy. Most universities actively respond and provide diverse types of resources, such as syllabus templates, workshops, shared articles, and one-on-one consultations; focusing on a range of topics, namely general technical introduction, ethical concerns, pedagogical applications, preventive strategies, data privacy, limitations, and detective tools. The findings provide four practical pedagogical implications for educators when considering GenAI in teaching practices: 1) accepting GenAI presence, 2) aligning GenAI use with learning objectives, 3) evolving curriculum to prevent misuse of GenAI, and 4) adopting multifaceted evaluation strategies. For recommendations toward policy making, the article suggests two possible directions for the use of GenAI tools: 1) establishing discipline-specific policies and guidelines, and 2) managing students' sensitive information in a transparent and careful manner.

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Integrity signals

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100326

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56 of 56 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Technology departments exhibit heightened caution due to programming vulnerability.

    “technology departments exhibit heightened caution due to programming vulnerability”

    From Reimagining writing assessment for the AI era: a systematic review on balancing AI support and authentic skill growth (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2024

    The Prevention Strategies section (p. 9) reports greater caution in the policies of technology-oriented universities and suggests that programming homework may raise concerns about GenAI-enabled academic dishonesty. It does not establish that technology departments are more cautious or that programming vulnerability is the cause. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Humanities struggle when AI replicates traditional essay genres.

    “while humanities struggle when AI replicates traditional essay genres (Gonsalves, 2025; Wang et al., 2024).”

    From Reimagining writing assessment for the AI era: a systematic review on balancing AI support and authentic skill growth (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2024

    The Literature review (p. 2) discusses AI-generated academic writing and concerns about plagiarism, while the teaching implications (p. 10) recommend adapting assignments to address misuse. These passages support a general challenge for writing-based teaching, but they do not identify humanities specifically or say that AI replicates traditional essay genres. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Faculty report feeling underprepared to evaluate AI-assisted work and design valid assessments, particularly those unfamiliar with modern paraphrasing capabilities.

    “Faculty report feeling underprepared to evaluate AI-assisted work and design valid assessments, particularly those unfamiliar with modern paraphrasing capabilities (Karkoulian et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2024).”

    From Reimagining writing assessment for the AI era: a systematic review on balancing AI support and authentic skill growth (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2024

    The Literature review (p. 2) reports that some instructors hesitate to use GenAI because of limited guidance and that faculty called for more resources to improve AI literacy. The Content Analysis (p. 8) discusses how paraphrasing undermines AI detectors, and the Implications (pp. 10–11) recommend assessment strategies. The paper does not report that faculty feel underprepared to evaluate AI-assisted work or design valid assessments, or that those unfamiliar with paraphrasing feel particularly underprepared. (LLM, conf=0.79)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Institutions are shifting from restrictive bans toward flexible policy frameworks balancing AI affordances with academic rigor.

    “Institutions are shifting from restrictive bans toward flexible policy frameworks balancing AI affordances with academic rigor (Wang et al., 2024).”

    From Reimagining writing assessment for the AI era: a systematic review on balancing AI support and authentic skill growth (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2024

    The policy findings (p. 5) describe flexible approaches among the surveyed U.S. universities: none had a complete ban, and most left decisions to instructors. Section 5.1 (p. 5) also describes restrictions motivated by academic-integrity concerns. But the study reports policies at a point in time, not a documented shift from earlier bans. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Most U.S. universities adopted "open but cautious" stances with faculty-led discretion for discipline-specific relevance.

    “Most U.S. universities adopted “open but cautious” stances with faculty-led discretion for discipline-specific relevance (Wang et al., 2024).”

    From Reimagining writing assessment for the AI era: a systematic review on balancing AI support and authentic skill growth (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2024

    The Conclusion (p. 11) reports an open yet cautious attitude and says 57 of 104 universities encouraged instructors to set policies suited to their disciplines. The study examined top-ranked U.S. universities, so its findings do not establish the stance of most U.S. universities overall. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Wang, H., Dang, A., Wu, Z., & Mac, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Arizona (US)
  • University of Georgia (US)
Corresponding author
Wu, Zihao
Venue
Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2024-12
Volume
7
Pages
100326
ISSN
2666-920X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4403935384
Cited by
272
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 160 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 12
FWCI
101.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Artificial Intelligence in Education
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Keywords
generative AI in higher education, ChatGPT, AI guidelines, academic integrity, AI ethics, data privacy, AI in teaching, AI misuse prevention, curriculum adaptation

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