Many members of the Lehigh community have asked for guidance on how best to use Generative AI tools in their academic and administrative work.

  • Generative AI is a fast-evolving technology that many believe will enhance or transform teaching, research, and administrative work at universities. A now-common prediction is that individuals and organizations whose work is enhanced by AI will soon outperform those who continue to work without AI tools. 
  • There are many ethical, legal, and practical concerns related to the use of AI that may not be immediately obvious to those who first begin adopting these emerging technologies. 
  • Lehigh’s approach, as outlined by Provost Urban in previous communications, has been to encourage responsible experimentation with Generative AI tools, with appropriate attention paid to the known limitations and risks inherent to their adoption. At present, Lehigh has no new policies related to Generative AI, but the use of Generative AI is covered by existing policies, as discussed below.
  • LTS staff are available to help guide on these matters. If you would like to schedule a discussion of a Generative AI use case you envision, or a tool you are considering using, please submit a consultation request ticket.

As you begin or continue your experimentation, we encourage you to start with the following tools and recommend you access them through your Lehigh account rather than by using the free standalone versions. Doing so gives you enhanced controls and data protection. Note: Adobe Firefly is available in the LTS Digital Media Studio

Gemini DataCamp Keenious Adobe Firefly (available in the Digital Media Studio)

Policies and expectations

In order to foster responsible exploration within the bounds of policy and good practice, we offer the following reminders of existing policies that Lehigh faculty, staff, students, and affiliates are expected to follow:

  • By default, Generative AI tools collect and store data from users as part of their learning process. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini allow you to opt out of allowing your content to be used to train their models. Unless you have opted out or are certain an AI system walls off information you upload, assume that the information you submit will become part of the system’s training data, which it may then share with future users. 
  • Those who provide the university with private, protected data trust that we will treat that data ethically and in accordance with legal requirements and guidelines. This guidance applies to any online information system, not just to those that use Generative AI tools.   
  • For this reason you may not submit institutional data, restricted data, or critical data–this restriction is covered by Lehigh’s Acceptable Use of Computing Systems Policy. Examples of data that may not be submitted to such systems include Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, student records, financial records, health care records; data that fall under export control or ITAR regulations; employment records, legal records; and intellectual property you do not have the right to distribute. For more information, see Office of Institutional Data’s Classification of Data page. 
  • If you have a use case for Generative AI that involves such data, submit an LTS consultation request so we can advise you and help you ensure data safety and legal compliance.
  • Any member of the Lehigh community who learns of a potential breach of data protection or confidentiality— through the use of Generative AI tools or otherwise —is required by Section 5 of Lehigh’s Acceptable Use Policy to report the incident to the Office of Information Security at security@lehigh.edu.

Other considerations

  • If you use your Lehigh email to sign up for any online app or service (AI or otherwise) that requires you to create a username and password, do not use your Lehigh password. 
  • If you are using Generative AI for professional work, always check the output for accuracy and bias. Using output from Generative AI tools without reviewing it for accuracy and bias may place you and the university at risk. Be proactive in discovering, and reminding others, of known limitations to current tools in your field of study or area of operations. 
  • Understand citation practices in your context and appropriately cite any Generative AI tools that assisted in your work. Ask your chair, manager, or unit leadership if you have questions about using Generative AI for your academic, research, or administrative work.
  • Faculty are expected to follow University Policy on Ethical Conduct in Academic Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities (Contact the Office of Research if you have questions about specific use cases).
  • Students are expected to follow course-specific rules set by their instructors as well as academic integrity rules set by the university, as captured in the Student Code of Conduct. 
  • Instructors are advised to give students clear guidance on the use of Generative AI tools for coursework and research. See the tips below and the sample statements in the LU Syllabus Template.  Use Lehigh’s Academic Integrity Vignettes to highlight relevant cases and communicate expectations.
  • Vendors are actively marketing services to individuals in higher education. We encourage you to explore solutions that meet your needs but offer the caveat that off-the-shelf AI tools currently being marketed may not meet the university’s security, privacy, and compliance standards for handling anything besides public data. If you contract with a vendor who offers Generative AI-related services, complete this GenAI Software Registry. Adding your tool or service to this registry will help us understand the landscape of AI adoption at Lehigh.
  • Any individual or department that would like additional guidance in improving its operations through the use of Generative AI is strongly encouraged to collaborate with LTS  to ensure that the tool under consideration meets Lehigh’s acceptable use guidelines, conforms to information security and data compliance requirements, and is not duplicative of existing tools on campus. LTS can help you identify ways such tools and services can benefit you, while also helping ensure that Lehigh only works with vendors that comply with our policies and practices.

We encourage you to keep apprised of emerging trends and tools by attending LTS Seminars, viewing the recordings of the recent CITL Summer Workshops on AI Tools and Prompt Engineering, learning from the AI-related courses through LTS-provided access to DataCamp and LinkedIn Learning, and staying current with discipline- or domain-specific publications relevant to your work. 

If you have questions–or if you would like to schedule a meeting to discuss an AI tool you are considering or a use case you envision–please submit an LTS consultation request ticket.

Additional resources

  1. Directly address Generative AI in your classroom, in your syllabi, in each assignment prompt, and in course materials.  
  2. Provide students with explicit guidance about whether and how they may use these tools in your class.
  3. If you permit or encourage the use of Generative AI, offer guidance to students on how they can best use it to enhance their learning, which uses they should avoid, and why.
  4. Engage your students in thinking together about this emerging technology by inviting them to share their perspectives, experiences, questions, and concerns.
  5. Show students how Generative AI is or will be impacting your discipline--then teach students in ways that prepare them for that future.
  6. Address the thorny questions about AI: bias, inaccuracies/hallucinations, equity of access, ethical concerns about using others' work, complexities of using and citing AI-generated texts and images, privacy/reasons not to share personal information, etc.
  7. Create personalized assessments such as brief in-class writing or coding exercises; writing on topics unique to each student; in-person presentations, oral exams, one-on-one discussions of paper topics, etc.