At the same time, the cat is out of the bag. Various kinds of AI tools are ubiquitous in search, writing, image creation, and coding. So too, AI can be a very efficient research clerk and help desk. Whether we protest or participate in its use, we are implicated and must make situated decisions about its harms and benefits as individuals, an organization, and a society. This recalls Plato’s query about the ethics of technology — is a tool itself value-neutral and only its use matters, or are some tools so laden with value-based implications they cannot be regarded as ethically neutral?
PAN Works policy on AI in our Medium column is not intended to answer these legitimate concerns. Rather, it is to provide guidance for its use. Our guidance is structured along the lines of existing standards of academic integrity in written and artistic works. Key concerns when applicable are informed consent, malfeasance or misrepresentation in data acquisition and interpretation, plagiarism, and conflicts of interest.
The choice of whether or not to use AI rests with individual writers, but for publication in our Medium, what they write must be consistent with protecting their own and our organizational integrity.
So we offer the following guidelines.
1. Using AI tools like Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT, Grammarly, and others to strengthen the rigor and refine the voice of your work is an extension of already available tools. This includes spell checking, proofreading, and copyediting.
2. Using AI for searching the internet is the norm now and frequently superior to prior search algorithms. AI also serves as an effective help desk for practical and technical questions. This said, AI’s limits, biases, and hallucinations must be watched for and corrected.
3. Using AI to brainstorm ideas and research topics is reasonable, as long as the information is confirmed and perused by the user.
4. Using AI to generate imagery or other ‘creative’ products (e.g., poetry, music) is problematic if for no other reason than attribution and copyright violations. The use of creative AI should be explicitly disclosed, and we reserve the right to refuse such content.
5. Using AI as part of one’s methodology in data collection, analysis, and interpretation must be explicitly disclosed.
6. Representing work, in whole or in part, as one’s own that is generated from AI is a form of plagiarism. This should not be confused with using AI as part of a writing process. This is a grey area requiring careful attention.
7. See APA 7 (or later versions) on how to cite and reference AI in your work.