This page addresses some common questions for students and staff about using AI tools while ensuring compliance with intellectual property rights and academic standards.
HKUST gives faculty members the flexibility to set their own policies regarding the use of AI in their courses. So, consult your instructor for guidance.
In general, CEI suggests that, whether or not AI tools are used, students should be prepared to explain their work, justify their sources, provide drafts, and discuss alternative perspectives. For more details, check HKUST’s Policy for GenAI integration in teaching and learning.
Many publishers have established guidelines on the use of AI. Key principles include:
These standards ensure transparency and maintain academic integrity while incorporating AI in research. For more information, go to the guide for using GenAI in scholarly publishing.
Using AI tools for literature discovery, much like using Google Scholar or databases, generally does not require acknowledgment.
It depends on the publisher.
Some publishers (e.g. Nature) state that "AI-assisted copy editing" (such as grammar checks or rephrasing) does not need to be disclosed.
Check with your instructor or journals for specific guidelines. This guide on publisher’s policies on using AI in publishing may also help.
At present, most citation styles do not provide explicit guidelines for citing AI tools and their generated content. For now, go to this guide for recommendations from a few citation styles:
No. Uploading entire copyrighted materials, such as journal articles or book chapters, to AI tools is generally prohibited by most publishers’ licensing agreements.
These agreements typically restrict sharing full-text content with third-party platforms (including AI tools) to protect intellectual property rights. While some AI tools claim that uploaded content remains private, always review the specific terms of both the content provider and the AI platform before proceeding.
Instead, consider using AI to summarize your own notes.
For copyrighted content, limit input to very brief excerpts and ensure proper citation.
Generally, yes. Open access materials are often licensed under Creative Commons (CC), which typically allows the use of works with AI tools.
However, different CC licenses have different requirements, e.g. CC BY-NC (non-commercial) restricts usage to non-commercial purposes. Always check the specific CC license attached to the material you intend to use and ensure your use complies with its conditions.
Training AI models with large text and image datasets often involves text and data mining (TDM), which is subject to specific licensing agreements.
Many publishers support TDM for research purposes, but may have restrictions, such as download limits or require certain fees. Check our guide for different TDM policies of publishers and aggregators.
Open access materials under Creative Commons (CC) licenses or in the public domain generally do not require additional permissions.
However, some OA content may include third-party materials (e.g. images or figures) that are subject to stricter copyright terms, requiring you to seek additional permissions. Check this article to learn more about using CC-licensed content in AI training.
If your dataset contains personal data, you must ensure compliance with privacy regulations. Consult with your supervisor or senior researchers on any established protocols for handling such sensitive data.
University’s and the Government’s policies on data privacy can also help:
