AI Use Policies at the
University of Washington

The formal conduct code defines academic misconduct to include "the unauthorized use of assistance, including technology." AI tools fall under this definition when used without instructor permission. Chapter 209, Section 7.C provides detailed definitions including cheating, plagiarism, and unauthorized collaboration.

Companion policies: Student Governance Chapter 209 and Chapter 210 are explicitly referenced in AI communications to students.

Teaching@UW maintains the authoritative collection of sample syllabus language for instructors across all three campuses. Three primary policy stances are modeled:

Full prohibition: "All work submitted for this course must be your own. Any use of generative AI tools when working on assignments is forbidden. Use of generative AI will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation."

Allowed without restriction: Students encouraged to use AI (e.g., UW's version of Copilot) with proper citation. AI results may be biased or inaccurate.

Conditional/assignment-by-assignment: Whether AI is permitted is specified per assignment. All AI use must be cited. Only UW-approved tools (Microsoft Copilot) are privacy-safe.

Note: Copilot is currently the only UW-enterprise-supported GenAI tool. Other tools (ChatGPT, etc.) do not carry UW's data privacy agreement.

The AI Task Force (convened by Provost Tricia Serio and President Ana Mari Cauce) produced WAISTAR, UW's comprehensive AI strategy framework. It covers five domains: Education, Research, Student Experience, Operations, and governance. The framework guides institutional AI investment and policy development across all schools and campuses.

UW-IT's guidelines require that only UW-approved services be used with University data. Unapproved tools risk violating UW policy or applicable law. UW-IT offers tool review, architectural guidance, and security assessments for units considering AI adoption. Users are "ultimately responsible and accountable" for all GenAI outputs.

Sub-pages cover research, teaching, and UW Medicine-specific guidance.

UW's Tech Policy Lab (a cross-disciplinary collaboration of Law, iSchool, and the Allen School) tracks legal and regulatory AI policy developments relevant to the university community. The AI@UW site aggregates resources across teaching, research, and operations including external regulatory context (Washington State AG, City of Seattle GenAI policies).

The College of Engineering explicitly states: "The University of Washington has no overarching policy on student use of generative AI. The College of Engineering, likewise, defers to the judgement of the instructor." Instructors are encouraged to be deliberate and clear in course guidelines. The College endorses assignment-level variation — AI may be fully prohibited in one course and permitted in another depending on learning objectives.

Sample syllabus language is provided covering: full prohibition with academic misconduct referral to the College Dean's Office and CSSC, intermediate positions, and reporting processes. All engineering students are expected to uphold the College of Engineering Statement of Principles.

Several Allen School courses have explicitly integrated AI use into their curriculum:

CSE 490 A1 — Big Ideas in AI (taught by Oren Etzioni): Examines superintelligence, AI constraints, and humanity's role in an AI world. Built around generative AI and contemporary thought.

CSE 490 A2 — AI-Assisted Software Development (taught by Mike Ernst): AI assistance is central to this course on specifications, code review, debugging, and system decomposition. Students direct AI agents as team leaders.

Graduate Certificate in Modern AI Methods: A new part-time evening program for professionals covering deep learning, computer vision, and NLP. Stackable toward MS in AI/ML for Engineering or ME in Multidisciplinary Engineering.

General CSE course AI policy defers to individual instructors. No single Allen School AI use rule applies across all courses.

The iSchool formalized an AI Specialization in Fall 2024 within the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) program. Residential students completing any three AI-focused electives earn the specialization. AI-specific courses include:

IMT 526 — Building and Applying Large Language Models (LLMs) (technical prerequisites required)

IMT 523 — Implementing and Managing Generative AI Systems: Covers prompt engineering, responsible AI, low/no-code GenAI app development

IMT 598 — Responsible AI: Ethics and governance of AI systems

Generative AI Ethics (Autumn 2024, Prof. Aylin Caliskan)

Epistemological Foundations of AI (Winter 2025)

Foundations of Artificial Intelligence (online elective, Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 for online MSIM)

For Informatics, MLIS, and MSIM students more broadly: AI integration in assignments and projects is encouraged where it serves course requirements. Course-specific policies are set by individual faculty.

Foster has taken a proactive, integration-forward stance on AI. The school articulates three AI competency expectations for every Foster student: (1) foundational AI knowledge including machine learning and generative AI; (2) proficiency using AI tools for decision-making, communication, and operations; (3) ability to design AI-infused products and processes across disciplines.

Notable AI-focused courses at Foster include:

"Generative AI in the Era of Cloud Computing" (MSIS program, Prof. Léonard Boussioux): Deep learning, LLMs, diffusion models, ethical and creative AI use.

"Forging AI Champions: A Transformative Generative AI Teaching Experience" (undergraduate, Prof. Boussioux): Hands-on AI creation, business problem-solving, AI co-creation.

Foster has adopted a school-wide generative AI programming assignment originated by Prof. Boussioux. For courses without an explicit AI policy, the default UW instructor-discretion rule applies.

The College of the Environment provides instructors with specific AI misconduct prevention guidance and sample syllabus language. Sample prohibition statement: "All work submitted for this course must be your own. Any use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, when working on assignments is forbidden. Use of generative AI will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation."

The College also offers an "allowed without restriction" variant that requires citation of any AI tools used. Turnitin is available via Canvas for similarity checking. Guidance discourages students from posting course materials to external AI-training platforms (Course Hero, Chegg, etc.).

UW Law students in the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic (Tech-Law Clinic) have directly participated in shaping Washington State AI policy, contributing to the inaugural report of the Washington State Artificial Intelligence Task Force (December 2024). The presence of AI tools in the clinic predates ChatGPT. 2L and 3L students conduct policy research with the Attorney General's Office on AI, including judicial AI applications.

The Tech Policy Lab (jointly led by Law, iSchool, and Allen School faculty) provides ongoing guidance on legal and policy issues in AI, cybersecurity, and technology governance.

GIX offers a three-day, in-person non-credit professional program co-developed by UW experts in computer science, business, and law. The program is designed for decision-makers, leaders, and policymakers seeking practical and strategic GenAI fluency. AI tools are actively used in this program as part of instruction. Custom organizational delivery is available.

Teaching@UW offers a four-week fully online asynchronous professional development course for instructors (all three campuses) exploring evidence-based teaching strategies with generative AI, specifically UW's version of Microsoft Copilot. The course covers advancing student learning through GenAI and effective course design with AI tools.

UW Medicine has separate GenAI guidelines for clinical and health research contexts that require a UW NetID to access. These are referenced in UW-IT's general guidelines as the authoritative source for health care and medical research AI use. Per UW-IT: "Only UW-approved services and applications may be used with University data."

Public-facing summary: AI use in clinical and health research contexts must comply with HIPAA, UW data governance policies, and UW Medicine's specific approved tool list.

The UW School of Nursing's Digital Health Innovation Hub actively integrates AI in both research and curriculum. Notable AI-related research programs include work on AI chatbots for mental health support and AI-based cognitive training to reduce social isolation in older adults (ongoing at UW Tacoma School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership). No standalone AI use policy for students has been publicly published — standard UW conduct code and course-level policies apply. Research AI use falls under the Graduate School and UW Medicine research guidance.

UW Bothell students received the same system-wide AI and academic integrity communication as Seattle and Tacoma students. The campus does not have a separate AI policy distinct from the university-wide guidance. Students are directed to consult each course syllabus and instructor for course-specific rules. All courses at UW Bothell are subject to the Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) in the same way as other UW campuses.

UW Bothell's Teaching@UW resources (shared across all campuses) provide instructors with sample syllabus language and pedagogical guidance for AI integration.

UW Bothell launched a new minor in Cybersecurity in 2025 and continues to expand computing and STEM programs. No standalone AI use policy has been publicly published at the school or program level at UW Bothell as of early 2026. All programs operate under the UW system-wide framework: instructor discretion, course syllabus governs, Student Conduct Code applies. Individual course syllabi (available through MyUW/Canvas) contain course-specific AI policy language.

The UW Tacoma School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership actively engages with AI in research contexts, including work by Dr. Jingyi Li (assistant professor) on AI-based cognitive training to reduce social isolation in older adults. No separate AI classroom policy document is publicly available; course-level policies set by instructors govern student AI use. The school operates under UW system-wide and UW Medicine health research AI guidance.

UW holds a site license for Turnitin, integrated with Canvas. Instructors can enable similarity checking per assignment. Turnitin now includes AI writing detection features (though its accuracy is disputed). Teaching@UW notes that no technology currently exists that can reliably identify AI-generated content, so reliance on AI detection tools alone is cautioned against. Posting course materials to third-party AI-training sites (Course Hero, Chegg) may also violate course policies and should be addressed in syllabi.