FOLLOWING THE issuance of the University’s artificial intelligence (AI) guidelines, the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) provided an implementing policy for the use of AI tools in undergraduate research, along with instructions for its usage and disclosure.
In the latest edition of its general guidelines for thesis writing, the AB Research and Thesis Management Committee instructed Artlets to declare all forms of AI assistance on their final papers.
“The policies of the use of AI for academic and research purposes shall be declared by the proponents as part of their manuscript,” the document obtained by The Flame read.
Thesis facilitators were also directed to provide a template as a basis for a declaration form.
“Respective PTFs (program thesis facilitators) shall make a declaration form regarding the ethical use of AI as such in a limited and supportive manner should it be utilized,” it added.
AB’s new general guidelines are in line with the 2025 UST Guidelines on Integrity in Research and Publication, which provides policies on ethical research, including the use of AI in academic papers.
The manual, which was adopted as more institutions use AI in research, is the University’s first formal policy governing the integration of the technology in scholarly publications of students, faculty, scholars and other members of the Thomasian community.
READ: UST issues AI policy on research and publication
Under AB’s thesis writing policy, researchers are required to indicate the AI tools used during their study, such as ChatGPT, Quillbot and Grammarly, and their specific purpose. This can range from grammar checks, data analysis to citation formatting.
The committee also prohibits students from directly placing AI-generated content on their research outputs, instructing thesis advisers to enforce this rule on their advisees.
“Under no circumstances shall an AI system be done to create and/or generate analysis, frameworks, original content and even the structure of the manuscript itself,” the manual said.
If a student’s work is suspected to have been largely AI-generated, the adviser and facilitator should investigate using AI detection tools, which would then be followed by a possible sanction for academic dishonesty and plagiarism as outlined in the University handbook.
Under the UST student handbook’s code of discipline, offenses and penalties, dishonesty and plagiarism are punishable by non-readmission, exclusion or expulsion, depending on the gravity or number of the offense.
The document was prepared by AB’s overall thesis coordinator instructor Jazztin Manalo and was approved by faculty dean Prof. Melanie Turingan. F
