This document provides guidance for UAH graduate students and research advisors on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in graduate capstone projects, theses, DNP projects, and dissertations. AI tools refer to both generative (e.g., forming hypotheses, data analysis, data visualization) and predictive (e.g., correcting grammatical errors) software. Dissertations, theses, and other graduate-level culminating projects prepare students to engage in rigorous research, participate in disciplinary conversations, and contribute knowledge to their field. These projects involve significant intellectual work and academic engagement, and AI tools should enhance, not replace, these efforts. Students must be transparent and disclose any significant AI use in their capstone projects, theses, DNP projects, and dissertations within the Notification of Examination/Defense Kuali Form. Students and their advisors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and mitigating the biases of AI-edited and/or generated information. Advisors are responsible for guiding students in ethical, intellectually rigorous, and disciplinarily acceptable research. Because dissertations, DNP projects, and theses are published online by UAH and represent the university, they must adhere to high standards of intellectual rigor and academic integrity. Students must discuss appropriate AI tool use with their advisor prior to using these tools. All AI tool use should follow the expectations and conventions of a student’s discipline and support the student’s intellectual development. Undisclosed AI use or AI use that violates disciplinary expectations could prompt academic disciplinary action and may result in a student not completing their degree. Students and their advisors should consider the following issues when using AI tools: AI tools should supplement, rather than replace, the intellectual work the student performs in producing any documents. AI tools may produce false information, including made-up facts and sources, so students must carefully review any information produced by AI. AI tools cannot guarantee security and should not be used to work with any classified, confidential, or proprietary information. Students disclose their intellectual property when uploading to public AI chatbots. Many academic publications prohibit the use of AI writing tools, so students should review the standards of journals and academic societies in their discipline. Students must account for potential biases in AI-produced data and text. AI tools often present ethical issues, including fair labor and environmental sustainability issues, so students should carefully consider any ethical issues involved with AI use. Students are responsible for presenting and defending their work, including work generated by AI tools, during an oral defense. Students should ensure they can knowledgeably discuss all of the information, sources, and arguments in their work. UAH colleges and departments/programs are encouraged to develop guidelines on the use of generative AI tools in the preparation and writing of a thesis, dissertation, graduate capstone or DNP project. Committee chairs must provide their students with a copy of college/department/program guidelines. If none exists, the guidelines will default to those of the UAH Graduate School. Failure to follow department/program AI guidelines will be treated as an academic integrity violation. A student’s failure to disclose the acceptable use of generative AI to their supervisory committee will also be treated as an academic integrity violation. Consequences may include actions up to and including dismissal from the program. Graduate School AI Guidelines The Graduate School considers the appropriate use of generative AI to be that which supports the student’s intellectual work and writing process but does not replace it. Acceptable use of generative AI tools includes the following: Revising, editing, and proofreading document text. Generating visuals and illustrations that support documents. Formatting documents and citations. Generative AI should not substitute for any critical thinking activity related to the preparation and writing of a thesis, dissertation, graduate capstone or DNP project. The Graduate School considers the following to represent a misuse of generative AI tools unless expressly allowed in the college or department/program AI guidelines: Using generative AI to form software that collects data and generates figures, graphs, and tables, and which analyzes and interprets data, figures, graphs, and tables without direct involvement by the student. Using generative AI to gather and evaluate academic sources for literature reviews. Using generative AI to write significant portions of text, similar to the rules by which plagiarism is evaluated. Using generative AI to replace the creative process, such as composing music, writing poetry, or drafting all or a portion of a book. Using generative AI without adequate review to ensure the validity of sources and the accuracy of analysis or other content.