U.S. Copyright Office's view, "it is well-established that copyright can protect only material that is the product of human creativity. Most fundamentally, the term “author,” which is used in both the Constitution and the Copyright Act, excludes non-humans."
However,
"Individuals who use AI technology in creating a work may claim copyright protection for their own contributions to that work. They must use the Standard Application,[39] and in it identify the author(s) and provide a brief statement in the “Author Created” field that describes the authorship that was contributed by a human." Read more at the National Archives - Federal Register
Make it a point to discus AI use with your students. Students need to know how they can and cannot use AI tools in your course.
The best time to talk is when a new assignment is introduced to avoid confusion whether or not the use of generative AI is allowed.
Remind students of need to fact check AI responses.
Remind them not to share personal information and not to upload the work of others without permission. All content shared with and AI tool becomes a part of the tool's dataset.
Be specific in how generative AI can be used
Tools like Chat GPT/, Copilot, Gemini or other AI tools can be used to help brainstorm ideas or come up with a topic for assignments?
To summarize or explain complex concepts.
Can it be used it for writing and editing?
Find out how your students are using AI.
Let students ask questions, many have been using AI for years.
Have a plan for giving credit. APA Style, MLA Style, and AMA all have guidelines for citing generative AI.
Do you want an appendix that includes the prompts used with the tools or the full transcript of the AI interaction?