What is GenAI?

What is GenAI?
Aca­d­e­m­ic Integri­ty
Secu­ri­ty & Pri­va­cy
Copy­right & Intel­lec­tu­al Con­sid­er­a­tions
Eth­i­cal Con­sid­er­a­tions
Ben­e­fits of GenAI
Teach­ing and GenAI

Gen­er­a­tive AI (GenAI) is a type of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence capa­ble of cre­at­ing new con­tent, such as text, images, music, videos, or even entire datasets, based on pat­terns and infor­ma­tion it has learned from exist­ing data. Unlike tra­di­tion­al AI sys­tems — such as inter­net search engines, Net­flix rec­om­men­da­tions, or Google Maps, which pri­mar­i­ly ana­lyze exist­ing data and make pre­dic­tions, GenAI mod­els uti­lize algo­rithms and neur­al net­works to iden­ti­fy pat­terns and rela­tion­ships with­in a train­ing dataset. This enables them to gen­er­ate new out­puts like the data they have accessed, effec­tive­ly tak­ing AI capa­bil­i­ties one step fur­ther. When AI tech­nol­o­gy cre­ates some­thing inde­pen­dent­ly, it is referred to as “Gen­er­a­tive AI” or “GenAI.”

At North Island Col­lege (NIC), teach­ing and learn­ing have con­tin­u­al­ly evolved through tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tions dis­rup­tive trans­for­ma­tions, from cal­cu­la­tors and com­put­ers to the inter­net, mobile phones, and now GenAI. GenAI presents oppor­tu­ni­ties to enhance edu­ca­tion, offer­ing poten­tial ben­e­fits and val­ue in teach­ing and learn­ing through informed and eth­i­cal use while mit­i­gat­ing asso­ci­at­ed risks and harms. Giv­en its increas­ing preva­lence in edu­ca­tion­al and pro­fes­sion­al sec­tors, it is essen­tial for the NIC com­mu­ni­ty to engage respon­si­bly with these tools.

The prin­ci­ples and guide­lines out­lined on this site pro­vide a frame­work for the eth­i­cal and effec­tive inte­gra­tion of GenAI into teach­ing and learn­ing prac­tices at NIC, ful­ly address­ing poten­tial risks. This site will be reg­u­lar­ly updat­ed to reflect ongo­ing devel­op­ments in GenAI, advance­ments in knowl­edge, and com­pli­ance with emerg­ing reg­u­la­to­ry stan­dards and gov­ern­ment direc­tives.

NIC Val­ues and Ini­tia­tives Con­duct Prin­ci­ples

Alignment with NIC Values and Initiatives

How we use GenAI in teach­ing and learn­ing should align with NIC’s strate­gic plan ini­tia­tives, as well as exist­ing NIC poli­cies, pro­ce­dures and legal require­ments.

  • Build 2026 — 2.1 Teach­ing and Learning: Our pur­suit of excel­lence dri­ves us to dis­cov­er how GenAI can be uti­lized cre­ative­ly and adap­tive­ly to trans­form teach­ing and learn­ing. At the heart of this work lies our com­mit­ment to pre­serv­ing human val­ues and fos­ter­ing crit­i­cal think­ing.

  • Build 2026 – 7.1 Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion & 7.2 Diver­si­ty, Equi­ty, and Inclu­sion: By pri­or­i­tiz­ing decol­o­niza­tion, inclu­siv­i­ty, and acces­si­bil­i­ty, we must care­ful­ly assess how these tools could rein­force bias­es or mis­ap­pro­pri­ate cul­tures. At the same time, we explore their abil­i­ty to enhance equi­table access, inclu­sive­ness, and uni­ver­sal­ly designed learn­ing expe­ri­ences.

  • Build 2026 – 8.1 Cli­mate and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty: In serv­ing our com­mu­ni­ties, we must con­front the envi­ron­men­tal foot­print of GenAI tech­nolo­gies. Our focus is on ensur­ing their use and devel­op­ment align with sus­tain­able prac­tices that hon­or our con­nec­tion to the plan­et and all liv­ing things.

Conduct

GenAI is a tech­nol­o­gy tool that can be use­ful in learn­ing and teach­ing at NIC and beyond, pro­vid­ed it is used appro­pri­ate­ly with­in the con­text of indi­vid­ual cours­es and assign­ments. Fac­ul­ty need to make deci­sions about whether, and to what extent, they adopt and/or allow the use of tech­nol­o­gy tools in their teach­ing prac­tice. This includes GenAI tools, pro­vid­ed that use aligns with NIC’s pol­i­cy on Com­mu­ni­ty Code of Aca­d­e­m­ic, Per­son­al and Pro­fes­sion­al Con­duct (Pol­i­cy 3–06), Free­dom of Infor­ma­tion and Pro­tec­tion of Pri­va­cy (Pol­i­cy 1–01), and Research Involv­ing Humans (Pol­i­cy 1–21). More infor­ma­tion on GenAI use in learn­ing, teach­ing and assess­ment prac­tices is avail­able on the Teach Any­where web­site.

GenAI is an evolv­ing tech­nol­o­gy with unan­swered ques­tions about its reli­a­bil­i­ty, accu­ra­cy, and best use. There are also very sig­nif­i­cant eth­i­cal con­cerns about the ways in which GenAI may per­pet­u­ate exist­ing bias­es that rein­force sys­temic inequities or may present new chal­lenges and bar­ri­ers to decol­o­niza­tion, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and equi­ty and antiracism goals. NIC encour­ages use with­in the bound­aries of eth­i­cal and respon­si­ble con­duct.

The prin­ci­ples below pro­vide direc­tion for the NIC com­mu­ni­ty on using GenAI eth­i­cal­ly and respon­si­bly while mit­i­gat­ing risks. These prin­ci­ples will be reg­u­lar­ly revis­it­ed, assessed, and main­tained to ensure com­pli­ance with cur­rent and emerg­ing reg­u­la­to­ry stan­dards and gov­ern­ment advice, as well as emer­gent knowl­edge about the impli­ca­tions and impacts on mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties. 

Principles

Understanding and Remaining Current with GenAI

Pri­or to using GenAI, take steps to learn about the tool’s strengths and lim­i­ta­tions. Read all terms of use to under­stand pri­va­cy, secu­ri­ty, and copy­right impli­ca­tions. GenAI is a rapid­ly evolv­ing field, so if using these tools reg­u­lar­ly, make sure you stay up to date on the lat­est advance­ments, use cas­es, and best prac­tices in GenAI to har­ness its poten­tial to the fullest. When in doubt, do not hes­i­tate to ask for help or fur­ther clar­i­fi­ca­tion on the use of GenAI. We are all learn­ing, and open dia­logue will ensure we uti­lize the inno­va­tion of GenAI in a bal­anced and respon­si­ble man­ner.

Appropriate and Responsible Use

Fac­ul­ty use of GenAI: Fac­ul­ty may choose to use GenAI for teach­ing and learn­ing relat­ed work with­in the bounds of legal, col­lege, or depart­ment-lev­el poli­cies and guide­lines, and the guide­lines below. AI’s impact is con­text spe­cif­ic in con­sid­er­ing disciplines/industries, how learn­ing out­comes may evolve, and how learn­ing activ­i­ties and assess­ments might change to bet­ter pre­pare stu­dents for future skills.

Stu­dent use of GenAI: Stu­dents may choose to use GenAI in aca­d­e­m­ic course work with­in the direc­tions set by the instruc­tors in their pro­grams or cours­es. They may choose to use GenAI to sup­port their learn­ing in oth­er ways, with­in the bounds of legal and col­lege poli­cies and require­ments and guide­lines below.

Accountability for Results

Ensur­ing the accu­ra­cy and appro­pri­ate­ness of GenAI results is the respon­si­bil­i­ty of the user. While GenAI can aid in gen­er­at­ing con­tent, the final com­mu­ni­ca­tion should be reviewed for accu­ra­cy and remain in keep­ing with any rel­e­vant or applic­a­ble NIC poli­cies and guide­lines. Remem­ber to attribute sources when appro­pri­ate.

Ownership of Original Generated Content

GenAI tools may have vary­ing poli­cies on own­er­ship and licens­ing of gen­er­at­ed con­tent. Some tools might grant you full own­er­ship, while oth­ers may retain cer­tain rights. Before using a GenAI tool, read the terms of use and ful­ly under­stand how mate­r­i­al that has been gen­er­at­ed can be used for per­son­al or enter­prise use. Where nec­es­sary, ensure the appro­pri­ate license is pur­chased with approval as required.

Copyright Infringement Risk Mitigation

Mod­els may be trained on intel­lec­tu­al assets that are copy­right­ed and so may inad­ver­tent­ly gen­er­ate con­tent that infringes upon exist­ing intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty rights. Though GenAI tools seem to be pro­vid­ing orig­i­nal respons­es, they may be quot­ing near direct­ly from sources in their train­ing set. Using or repro­duc­ing copy­right­ed out­puts with­out a license presents a legal risk. Mit­i­ga­tion strate­gies include using prop­er attri­bu­tion, check­ing for orig­i­nal­i­ty, or using copy­right-com­pli­ant tools. Like­wise, your own intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty may be com­pro­mised or used with­out your per­mis­sion if entered into a tool. For exam­ple, enter­ing your orig­i­nal writ­ing into the tool may result in the tool using your writ­ing as an orig­i­nal response for anoth­er user.

Plagiarism Risk Mitigation

Pla­gia­rism, an aca­d­e­m­ic risk as opposed to legal risk, refers to the act of pre­sent­ing some­one else’s work or ideas as one’s own with­out prop­er attri­bu­tion, regard­less of whether the con­tent is pro­tect­ed by copy­right. It is rec­om­mend­ed to adhere to NIC Library’s guid­ance for cit­ing GenAI use. Use citation/quotation prac­tices as you would if you were refer­ring to any online resource. Also con­sid­er search­ing for phras­es from gen­er­at­ed results to try to iden­ti­fy and cred­it orig­i­nal sources. If imagery has been cre­at­ed or mod­i­fied using GenAI, it can be cred­it­ed in much the same way as pho­to cred­its, for exam­ple, “Pho­to illus­tra­tion: [insert name of tool/NIC]”.

Confidentiality of NIC Data

Do not enter any con­tent into a GenAI tool that has not been assessed for pri­va­cy impact or that you would not be able to place pub­licly on the inter­net for free use. This includes any con­tent that is not intend­ed for pub­lic release (e.g., research results before they are pub­lished), or con­tent that was cre­at­ed by oth­ers includ­ing stu­dents (e.g., writ­ten stu­dent assign­ment sub­mis­sions). Enter­ing con­fi­den­tial con­tent into a GenAI tool may expose that con­tent to third par­ties who are not autho­rized to see or use it.

Privacy Risk Mitigation

Do not enter per­son­al infor­ma­tion into any GenAI tool that has not been through NIC’s FIPPA com­pli­ance assess­ment, to do so may be a breach of pri­va­cy. Per­son­al infor­ma­tion includes names, con­tact infor­ma­tion, stu­dent num­bers, aca­d­e­m­ic his­to­ry, etc. The guid­ance for per­son­al infor­ma­tion with respect to GenAI tools is the same as for any oth­er toolset that has not under­gone a pri­va­cy impact assess­ment.

Mitigating the Risk of Reproducing Cultural Bias and Systemic Inequities

Results pro­duced by GenAI reflect society’s gen­der, cul­ture, and oth­er bias­es present on the inter­net. Over­re­liance on gen­er­at­ed out­put may result in inap­pro­pri­ate dif­fer­en­tial treat­ment and seri­ous con­se­quences for groups of indi­vid­u­als and/or their human rights. A care­ful review of any results pro­duced by GenAI for bias is nec­es­sary before use.

Mitigating the Risk of Incorrectness

Due to the sta­tis­ti­cal approach, GenAI tools may return results that are believ­able but are incor­rect. Users should dou­ble check all results returned by GenAI tools for cor­rect­ness. Sim­i­lar­ly, if using GenAI tools to pro­duce code, be sure to review the code care­ful­ly against your own tests, and test the code in a safe, quar­an­tined envi­ron­ment, in case it invokes behav­iours with unin­tend­ed or prob­lem­at­ic con­se­quences.

Mitigating Ecological Impacts

NIC is com­mit­ted to sus­tain­abil­i­ty. At time of writ­ing these guide­lines, GenAI tools use sig­nif­i­cant amounts of elec­tric­i­ty. Users should con­sid­er choos­ing solu­tions and/or ven­dors that lim­it and/or reduce pow­er con­sump­tion and lever­age high-qual­i­ty renew­able ener­gy to mit­i­gate the impact on sus­tain­abil­i­ty goals. One exam­ple might be con­sid­er­ing how many ver­sions you require to be cre­at­ed when you use GenAI. Anoth­er exam­ple might be ful­some­ly writ­ing your prompt or request of a GenAI tool ini­tial­ly to pre­vent mul­ti­ple rewrites.