Terror: The anticipation and dread before a frightening event has occurred.
Horror: The revulsion or shock after a frightening event has occurred.

When Google Translate and early AI translation acquisition tools first hit the internet, my French, Spanish, and all other language teachers marked assignments and the students who used this these tools harshly. These teachers had the knowledge required to identify non-typical conjugations and inappropriate grammatical usage that would make understanding difficult.

Terror: The idea that computerized language acquisition models will replace Interpreters without understanding or accuracy.

Human Interpreters have trained themselves to understand the origin of languages and their cultural contexts, and to excel at their skills they must understand the current state and natural evolution of language.

AI translation and acquisition tools lack true understanding, context, and the ability to self-evolve as their environments change (ChatGPT has consistent roll-backs and sections of code that it is not permitted to rewrite).

Horror: A graduate student who used ChatGPT to supply references for their definitions of childhood did not check if any of the supplied references were written by a convicted pedophile. Specifically, their most utilized reference.

Question: What could have caused an individual so genuinely passionate about their topic to use AI language tools in order to source references rather than their library?

Answers: I found many possible reasons:

• Their school accepts students who do not have any formal training in the area of their graduate program and puts the onus on these students to “catch up” to the program rather than address the failings of the acceptance requirements.
• Their school library is underfunded and does not have adequate access to academic information.
• They were not adequately taught the process of researching for a thesis.
• They were not taught the process of writing a 150+ page document and burnt out trying.

As a tutor for university students, I help many people develop their ideas, arguments, and writing style. I am very accurate at identifying when students have used AI (ChatGPT, etc.) to generate their ideas, arguments, research streams, research articles, citations, academic summaries, personal discussion posts, Master’s and Ph.D. theses, and more.

As an artist, I have learned not to blame my tools because I have not learned how to use them. I help train people on appropriate uses for AI, how AI works, and how to look elsewhere for more accurate answers.

My Position

I will not provide editing support on any document that was created using AI language tools.

This includes:

• Generating full or partial paragraphs
• Rewriting sentences for tone, grammar, or structure
• Submitting questions to AI and paraphrasing the responses
• Using AI to “brainstorm” arguments or conclusions
• Asking AI to create outlines or thesis statements

If I suspect your writing was generated or rewritten by an AI tool:

• I will tell you and it is your responsibility to provide evidence to the contrary
• You will admit to what you have done and restart, completely, in front of me (over video-conferencing).
• You will learn why this is not a good thing and how to use AI tools responsibly.
• We will develop templates to follow when generating ideas and throughout the writing process.
• I will tell your professor(s) if you continue to use AI tools irresponsibly as per each course’s individual academic dishonesty policies (Note: If your course instructors do not care about AI tool usage, then I need to have proof of this).

I am here to help develop your voice, ideas, and arguments; I am not here to edit work generated by AI algorithms so that they sound more human and can pass an AI detector.

You need to identify which ideas are YOURS and which ideas are not. To learn requires effortful, directed practice; if you outsource your thinking to a computer, then the computer is making the effort and not you.

Academic and creative integrity depend on personal interest, effort, and true understanding. If you do not understand what you are writing about, ask for help from kind people.

Do Not Use AI to Write in English

Most of my students have a birth language that is not Canadian English, but they must submit their final writing assignments using appropriate Canadian English.

For these students: I cannot recommend using AI language tools when writing assignments.

Instead:

• Brains need context to learn properly: Consider generating and considering ideas in the language that is most familiar to you if it is more comfortable.
• Translate and interpret all relevant terminology and definitions between your most familiar language and the language you use to submit writing assignments.
• Keep a table of common and uncommon terminology.
• Download a table of common and uncommon grammatical rules for both languages so that you can interpret your familiar language’s writing style into the language you use to submit writing assignments.

Tables: Is AI Generation Acceptable When…

Research and Planning

Type of Use	Acceptable?	Notes
Generating a to-do list of questions to guide your research	YES	These must be refined and expanded by the student and supervisors
Creating a general template or structure for your workflow	YES	This could include asking for a checklist of sections in a research paper, must be refined and expanded after verifying with publication sources
Asking AI to help identify relevant keywords for a research topic	SPECIFIC USE CASE	These provided keywords must be used as a suggestion and not as a definitive list. Verify and expand the list with academic sources and supervisors
Clarifying ideas for topics or research questions	SPECIFIC USE CASE	AI can be used to generate prompts for clarification, but the student needs to verify answers with external supports and supervisors
Generating ideas for topics or research questions	NO	This is a matter of student interest, understanding, and research ability. If you do not have any ideas, you need to take a break and reconsider your stress level

Writing and Drafting

Type of Use	Acceptable?	Notes
Asking for a unique example of your own ideas	SPECIFIC USE CASE	These examples can only be used for inspiration, not as part of your final content
Providing a summary of articles or research	NO	While this can be helpful if you already read the article, AI generative content will never be able to identify all the important pieces within the article or research
Applying a carefully constructed summarization template to an article	SPECIFIC USE CASE	A) The AI must be instructed to i) supply information verbatim in point form AND ii) include page and paragraph numbers for each point; B) The student must verify all information personally to ensure no motivations or concepts have been misrepresented or missed
Asking for rewording suggestions to improve clarity	SPECIFIC USE CASE	Suggestions must be reviewed and rewritten by the student to reflect their understanding, writing style, and tone
Asking for an evaluation of a section’s overall organization	YES	Suggestions must be reviewed and rewritten by the student to reflect their goals, understanding, writing style, and tone
Asking for a basic template to consider when developing sentences and paragraphs	YES	Suggestions must be reviewed the student and supervisor to reflect their goals, writing style, and tone
Drafting sections based on your own research and analysis	NO	The student must write these sections independently, not by relying on AI
Paraphrasing content to simplify it	NO	This can misrepresent the meaning and impact your academic integrity
Writing parts of a draft based on your outlines and research	NO	AI-generated drafts replace your intellectual effort
Rewriting for clarity or tone	NO	Your writing should reflect your understanding and voice
Organizing content for personal projects	SPECIFIC USE CASE	As long as the ideas and works are a) personally developed AND b) in your own words AND c) the information is publicly available and un-ownable