Nov. 7, 2025

AI Is not an Author. You Are.

Taking ownership of your writing

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With the pervasiveness of generative AI, we have to take ownership of our own work more than ever.

Even if you use AI to help in the writing process, you remain accountable for your work. You need to make sure you use AI responsibly, ethically, and appropriately.

Can I use AI for writing assistance?

As a student, it is your responsibility to ensure you have explicit permission from your instructor or supervisor before using AI. If you are unsure about what is permitted, ask your instructor or supervisor and discuss how you plan to use AI tools. Never assume that AI is allowed.

Additionally, you should never use AI to replace your thinking or offload academic effort. When using AI to help you complete coursework, treat it as a tool or an assistant. You remain responsible for validating all of AI’s outputs.

What is an author?

In research, authors take on accountability, responsibility, and ownership of the work they have done. This means that authors and co-authors must make a significant contribution to the work, whether that is in the work’s conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, reviewing, or any combination of these.

Additionally, authors and co-authors must agree to be legally responsible for the submitted work.

Non-author contributors

Some common examples of non-author contributors include general supervisors, proofreaders, editors, and so on; although they might be involved throughout the process, their contributions still do not qualify them as authors. Still, non-author contributors and their contributions should be reported in the paper (i.e. in the acknowledgement section).

Additionally, contributors who do not or cannot accept legal responsibility do not qualify for authorship.

What does this mean for students?

Academic integrity is a commitment to responsible scholarship that students must maintain throughout their academic journey. Like researchers, all students take authorship and accountability for all the work that they produce in school.

AI does not take responsibility. You do.

When you submit an assignment, you agree that the content belongs to you and any other co-authors listed. You and your group-mates are held accountable for that work.

Even when permitted, you must disclose the use of outside assistance such as editors, writing support, and AI assistance to maintain transparency.