Given the potential benefits of the use of GenAI tools, and the impact which they have already had within professional contexts, the University has opted not to attempt to ban the use of these platforms, and indeed, acknowledges their potential value to you as students when used correctly, with integrity and honesty, and in a manner which is cognisant of the University Study Regulations. Further guidance on each of these aspects will be provided within this page, and also during training which you will be provided with during your programme of study. You should ensure that you both engage with and understand this content so that you can make effective use of these tools, in a manner which ensures that you are able to meet the learning outcomes of your course, become an effective professional, and develop future-ready skills which will make you a valuable member of the workforce.

GenAI and the University Study Regulations

The University's study regulations, and more specifically its procedures for dealing with academic offences, provide guidance with the various activities which may constitute academic offences during your studies, and within assessments, which includes the use of GenAI in a manner which may jeopardise the integrity of those activities, or which may lead to you providing a dishonest representation of your work. Within its "Definition of Academic Offences", the offence of contract cheating is defined as:

"...where a student commissions or seeks to commission (either paid or unpaid) another individual or artificial intelligence software tool to complete academic work on their behalf."

Further to this, this section of the regulations also notes that:

"...[a] student may be found to have committed an academic offence if they have gained or attempted to gain an unfair advantage or facilitated or attempted to facilitate another student to do so."

As a student of the University, you have agreed to be bound by these regulations, and because of this, you should ensure that you are aware of the definitions above (and all of the others) as you undertake your studies. Further to this, you should note that the University regulations regard contract cheating as a major academic offence; this means that should a student be found to have committed such an offence, the maximum penalty available is withdrawal from the University.

The University regulations noted above should hopefully make it clear that GenAI tools should not be used to complete your work for you, and/or used to gain an unfair advantage over other students by, for example, receiving a better mark in an assessment than you would be capable of by completing the work yourself.

To help with your understanding of this, you can and should think of the use of GenAI platforms in a similar way to how you might work with an expert in the topic of an assessment (such as a member of teaching staff). Whilst it would be permitted to speak with that expert to learn more about the topic, and to use the information that they've provided to you (for example, in the form of lecture notes, directed reading, etc.) to help with your understanding of that topic, it would obviously NOT be permitted to get them to write your assessment for you, or to copy and paste the information that they've provided into an assignment or assessment, making it appear as if this is your own work.

In simpler terms, your work should be your OWN, ORIGINAL work, and not that of another person or GenAI tool. This would provide you with an unfair advantage and prevent staff from being able to assess YOUR knowledge, understanding, ability, and skills effectively. Ultimately, it could prevent them from being able to identify if you are fit to be an effective professional on completion of your degree. With this in mind, it's important to remember why you are undertaking your degree course, and thus why it is important to undertake the course honestly, with integrity, and in a professional manner.

However, as previously stated, GenAI tools are very useful when used appropriately and effectively, and they can introduce a range of efficiencies into your studies, particularly as you complete assessments. Hence, GenAI can help you to undertake your study activities more effectively, in the same way that commonplace internet search tools such as Google, academic literature tools such as Scopus, Web of Science, and the University's own library search tools do. By using GenAI tools in this way,  you will not be gaining an unfair advantage, and thus, it is appropriate to do so. We expect that the use of GenAI will increase exponentially in the coming years and therefore it will be of significant value for you to be able to make appropriate use of these tools in a professional capacity. You will be provided with training and other materials in relation to the use of these platforms to assist you with your studies throughout the course of your programme - more information will be provided to you about this in due course.

What can I use GenAI Tools for?

What all of the information above means is that there is a range of use cases for GenAI which are permitted by both the University and the School of Pharmacy. Depending on the activity at hand, you might find it appropriate to use a GenAI platform to ASSIST you with:

• Creating your revision notes and other materials which may help you to, for example, study for examinations or other assessments
• Improving your academic writing and other communication
• Planning and research for coursework and related assessments
• Managing your time more effectively by creating study and assessment plans, etc.

...in each case, the use of GenAI tools to assist with these activities can provide you with additional time to focus on the critical elements of the assessment or activity at hand. It's important to remember that these tools should be used to ASSIST you with these tasks, and not used to do them for you in their entirety - you should be fully considerate of the various skills development goals of your programme of study, which will include the ability for YOU to be able to undertake tasks YOURSELF - overuse of GenAI tools, whilst valuable at a given point in time, may lead to a worsening of your skills as you become over-reliant on the assistance which is provided by the platform(s) in question, which in turn may make you a less effective student, and professional.

Knowing what you are permitted to use GenAI tools for will help you to become a more effective student, and avoid falling foul of the University's regulations, including those which are related to academic offences. It's also important to be considerate of other aspects which should help you as you make use of these tools - in particular, having a full understanding of the limitations of use of GenAI tools should help you to gain a better grasp of when their use is appropriate and professional, and when this may not be the case.

Despite how it appears on your initial interaction with them, GenAI tools are NOT infallible, and indeed, in many cases, they are quite the opposite! So, as you make use of them, you should treat these platforms as you would any other reference resource, and ensure that you apply the core tenets of critical thinking and decision making to the information provided to you in response to your prompts/discussions with the GenAI tool in question.

Whilst the list below is not exhaustive, it will provide a useful summary of some of the key shortcomings of GenAI tools which you should remind yourself of as you make use of them:

• Many GenAI tools will draw their "knowledge" from a time-limited database, which may then lead to the provision of information which is not up to date - for example, (at the time of writing) ChatGPT, which has become a commonplace synonym for GenAI tools generally, has been "trained" on a data set which contains information up to September 2023 only!
• GenAI tools are only as good as the data sets on which they have been "trained", which in turn can lead to both the provision of inaccurate information, and information which is biased
• GenAI tools are synthetic, and as such, can synthesise information which does not exist (otherwise known as "hallucination" - this can include straightforward information which is provided in response to a query, or more complex information, such as literature references, or web resources and links
• GenAI tools are not subject experts, and often, can be reductive in their "reasoning" - this means that should you engage with a GenAI tool in relation to a complex concept, it may fail to understand the nuance of the question, provide overly simplistic answers, or provide responses which are or a low quality as effort is made to provide an answer which is more complex
• GenAI tools have no ethics - whilst they are able to engage in human-like conversation, they are, obviously, non-human, and as such, lack personal experience, opinion, or a moralistic awareness - this means that regardless of the information provided being incorrect, taken from non-corroborated resources, or being offensive, it will be provided indiscriminately
• GenAI tools are mostly trained in the English language - and, whilst some GenAI platforms will be able to handle inputs in other languages, and indeed, translate between languages, this is often very inaccurate
• The use of GenAI tools may infringe copyright, or otherwise lead to issues in relation to data protection and privacy - the responses that come from GenAI tools may be plagiarised or otherwise infringe copyright of the original creator of the content which was included within that platform's training set, and further to this, many platforms will be further trained on, or otherwise use the information which you provide. As such, it is hugely important not to provide sensitive information, or materials to which you do not hold the copyright to, into GenAI platforms, as this information may then appear elsewhere, and to other users

GenAI Limitations - Professional Considerations

The limitations noted above, and others which can often present themselves during use of GenAI, should always be considered as you make use of a particular tools, regardless of the reason that you're using it. In addition to these more general aspects, as students of the School of Pharmacy, you have additional professional responsibilities to consider when using these platforms, with these being related to your responsibility to act in a manner which ensures the safe and effective treatment and care of patients and other end users.

These responsibilities are particularly true in relation to those limitations around lack of expertise, and data governance and protection. Much like any other speciality, GenAI platforms are not medically trained, nor do they have experience of managing complex disease states, or the treatment of disease, and this should be taken into account at all times, and particularly in cases where you're considering making use of one of these tools to provide answers to questions in this context.

Despite their widespread use, GenAI tools have been accessible for only a short period of time (for example, ChatGPT was launched in November of 2022), and as such, professional bodies are currently working on the development of related guidance, which professionals should ensure that they abide by. However, even in the absence of this guidance, professionals, students or otherwise, should be aware of existing professional standards, and ensure that they are interpreting these in the context of the use of GenAI tools in their professional activities - this includes learning and assessment activities.

For example, within its Code, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland states that pharmacists should:

• "Respect the confidentiality of information, professional or otherwise, acquired in the course of professional practice and only use it for the purposes for which it is given and in compliance with current legislation"
• "Ensure that you do not, whether by your actions or omissions, create a risk to patient care or public safety"
• "When providing information or advice, in whatever format, do so accurately, clearly and unambiguously"
• "Keep your knowledge and skills up to date, evidence-based and relevant to your scope of practice"

...with these also being very closely reflected in the General Pharmaceutical Council's Standards for Pharmacy Professionals. Considering this guidance in relation to the various limitations and pitfalls which we've considered above, you should appreciate how the use of GenAI tools may jeopardise your ability to meet these standards, which can have serious professional implications for you, and more importantly, put the safety of your patients at risk. You MUST ensure that you are considering these aspects each time you make use of these tools for any aspect of your professional practice, and this includes during your time at University. Indeed, professional regulators are already issuing warnings in relation to the use of GenAI tools in a manner which could be considered dishonest/unethical, highlighting the potential risks of doing so.

Within the pharmaceutical industry, professional considerations must of course also be made in relation to the use of GenAI and related tools within professional practice, and this is already becoming evident in recommendations which are being made at a regulatory level. For example, the UK's Regulatory Horizons Council has recommended the regulation of AI as a medical device, and as part of this, has recommended that "there is an urgent need to increase regulatory capacity" to "support patient safety and accelerate innovation", and with the World Health Organisation calling for "caution to be exercised in using artificial intelligence (AI) generated large language model tools (LLMs) to protect and promote human well-being, human safety, and autonomy, and preserve public health.". Of course, again, as regulatory bodies work to develop specific guidance on the use of GenAI and other similar technologies within the development of healthcare products, it is critical that existing guidance and regulation is considered in the context of the use of these tools, such that the data that they provide can be used effectively, safely, and with honesty and integrity.

As students at the School, you have a range of responsibilities, both in terms of the expectations of the University, and to the professional groups to which your studies are related, and as such, it's important to consider further how GenAI can best be used to your advantage, whilst not acting in a manner which is unprofessional or unethical - the points below provide guidance on how you can do this:

• Ensure you understand the technology - whilst you don't need to fully understand how GenAI tools work, it's important that you do understand the basic elements of their function, as this will allow you to understand where the generated responses actually come from, enabling you to consider them appropriately, and use them effectively
• Use GenAI tools as tools - not shortcuts - these platforms should be used to ASSIST your learning, and other activities, not to do them for you. When using GenAI, endeavour to do so in a way which will provide you with a greater amount of time to focus on critical thinking, analysis, further study, and developing your knowledge, understanding, and skillset, and to develop your own originality. You should engage with GenAI platforms in a healthy way, using it to make you a more effective student and professional, rather than actively using it to the detriment of your own skills and ability - for example, should you make use of GenAI to assist you with your academic communication, use the information which the GenAI tool has provided to you to develop your own skills such that you can later remove the need to make use of GenAI for this purpose entirely, making YOU a more effective communicator, and reducing your reliance on GenAI
• Corroborate provided information - it's a good general rule to assume that any factual information provided by GenAI tools has been fully fabricated and synthesised, and with this in mind, you should ensure that you take the time to search for corroborating information, using more traditional tools, which will support the information which has been provided by the GenAI platform before you make use of it within a study activity, etc.
• If in doubt, ASK - should you not be sure if you are permitted to make use of a GenAI tool for a particular activity, reach out to an appropriate member of academic staff (for example, the member of staff who is responsible for the assessment in question, etc.) who will be able to provide more guidance
• Be aware of the guidance and regulations - as noted within this guidance, you are bound by important regulations, and your contravention of these can have significant impacts on your study, and your career. Thus, it's crucial that you are both aware of these, and that you abide by them more generally, and when making use of GenAI resources

Further to these, it's a good idea to develop your own set of rules for the use of these tools within your workflows, such that you can take full benefit from them, whilst doing so in a fully appropriate manner.

GenAI provides huge potential for the facilitation of more efficient working in a range of ways, allowing for a greater level of focus to be placed on more critical activity related tasks. However, the gap between the use of these platforms in a manner which is appropriate, honest, and integrous, and that which is inappropriate and dishonest is narrow, and this should be considered at all times as you make use of these platforms to assist your study activities. Further, the use of GenAI tools in the correct way is not without risk, and again, you should ensure that you make use of these platforms as assistive tools - you should consciously act to avoid over-reliance on these platforms, and ensure that you carefully consider the information that they provide such that you can be confident that it is suitable for use. 

Should you have any general questions about the use of GenAI platforms within your studies, please contact Dr Dan Corbett (Senior Lecturer (Digital Education)).