Our Policy on the Use of AI Writing Software at the Writers College

You have probably heard about the AI writing software that has made news headlines over the past few months. If using AI to help you with your writing assignments doesn’t interest you – wonderful! You don’t need to read any further. 

However, if you are already using AI, or want to, then please note our standpoint on the use of this technology.

At our writing school, we acknowledge the benefits of using artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with writing assignments, and we allow its use in some of our courses. However, we ask that you refrain completely from using AI on your particular course, as our tutors need to be able to see and correct your writing errors and assess your thinking and conceptual skills. That is what you have paid them to do.

It likely took courage and considerable thought to get you to sign up for a writing course. Now that you are here, we urge you to make the most of this growth opportunity. Learn new skills and grow your writing muscles. Give your brain the chance to develop new neural pathways that will help you write imaginatively and with confidence, long after you have completed your writing course. AI can speed up your writing process and help you write in a grammatically correct way, but it won’t help you become a better writer.

Writing is about applying your own curiosity, knowledge and imagination to your writing tasks, so a large part of creating compelling copy means being able to write emotionally driven copy and using AI-generated writing will not help you hone this skill or develop your intuition.

If your tutor can identify that your assignments were AI-assisted, marks will be deducted. Using a third party to complete your assignments is considered to be cheating, so if your assignment was entirely written by AI, you will receive zero marks for that task.

IMPORTANT:

Please include a declaration of authenticity for each assignment submitted. “I [name and surname] hereby declare that the written work I have submitted for assessment is my own. I have not written or edited it with the help of computer-generated editing tools or used artificial intelligence of any sort to assist me in the completion of Module [Number] of [Writing Course Title].

Please carefully consider these added drawbacks of using AI below. This content was generated using AI.

• Lack of creativity: AI can only generate ideas based on pre-existing data and patterns, limiting its creativity and ability to come up with unique and original ideas.
• Impersonal tone: AI-generated content can lack emotion and the human touch that comes with personal writing, leading to a lack of emotional connection and engagement with the reader.
• Overreliance on technology: Relying too much on AI for writing can hinder a student’s ability to develop their own writing skills and creativity.
• Limited understanding of context: AI may not fully understand the nuances and context of a particular topic or subject, leading to incorrect or inappropriate ideas.
• Repetitive content: AI-generated content can be repetitive and lack variety, leading to boring, uninteresting writing.
• Unnatural phrasing: AI may produce sentences or phrases that are technically correct but sound awkward or unnatural when read aloud.
• Lack of originality: AI-generated content may be too similar to existing content, leading to accusations of plagiarism and lack of originality.
• Inaccuracy: AI-generated content may contain errors or inaccurate information, leading to misinformation and a lack of credibility.
• Difficulty in editing: AI-generated content can be difficult to edit or revise, as the original ideas may be lost or difficult to modify.
• Limited vocabulary: AI may have a limited vocabulary or understanding of complex language, leading to simplistic writing.
• Bias: AI may contain biases or assumptions based on the data it was trained on, leading to potentially offensive or discriminatory content.
• Inability to adapt: AI may not be able to adapt to changes in the topic or subject, leading to outdated or irrelevant ideas.
• Dependence on technology: Relying too much on AI for writing may lead to a dependence on technology and a lack of critical thinking skills.
• Ethical concerns: The use of AI for writing raises ethical concerns regarding ownership of ideas, accountability for content, and the impact on the job market for writers.

To sum up our position: our school policy requires that you don’t use AI in your course. Marks will be deducted for each assignment that is identified as being written by AI.

Kind regards

Nichola Meyer and the staff at the Writers College