AI Policy for CSC 463 Fall 2026

This is a supplement to any and all campus wide AI policies

Required disclosure

As is true for AI, you must disclose how much AI was used for anything you turned in and what is did. See the bottom of this for an example.

For research and learning

1. What is allowed
   • to understand the basics of a topic. This might be something like "explain the basic difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption". Basic concepts AI is most likely to get correct and can prepare you to learn more complex details another way. You can treat it like Wikipedia as a first source to learn the basics and find links to more details.
   • to find resources on a topic. This might include "find me 4 book chapters than explain how to do 4 different types of asymmetric encryption." By asking for book titles, you can confirm that the results are correct.
   • to define a term you come across that you don't understand. For example, "What is RSA?". This will give you enough information to know if this is something in your scope or not.
2. What is not allowed
   • Teach everything you need about your topic (or a subtopic). For example, "Explain everything there is to know about RSA". There are two primary reasons for this: a You need to learn to read, process, and understand complex technical resources. That is the goal of this course a AI might not be complete or accurate and you don't know enough to know when to trust it since you are learning the topic

For producing presentations

1. What is allowed
   • Brainstorm different ways to organize the presentation. For example, "I need to make a presentation about the background of encryption. One structure might be on the history. What are three other structures you might recommend. Include who the audience might be." This shows that you can think of at least one but are looking for other ideas that might be better. But you will pick and adapt the one that is best.
   • Produce nice graphics as long as you provide the content. For example, "Here is the data for a simple RSA encryption example {with you giving the data}. Can you give me a good diagram that explains it." In this case, you have figured out the content, you are just asking AI to draw a nice picture.
   • Find nice graphics. For example, "Find a jpeg that show the dialogue associated with two people setting up symmetric encryption." Here you know what you are looking for. AI is just doing the search.
   • Give feedback on a recorded practice presentation. The prompt could be, "I am uploading a video of my presentation an RSA encryption. Please evaluate it in terms the quality of the speaking in the audio and the quality of the visual aid. I want the audio to exhibit mastery of the material and the visual aid to be readable in a large room." This tells AI what specifically you want feedback. You know about qualities that should be in the presentation and you want another opinion.
2. What is not allowed
   • Write the script of the presentation. The prompt "I have to give a presentation on the background knowledge of encryption. Please give me a script". In this case you are now using anything you have learned. The resulting work did not require you to learn anything. AI did all the learning. That is not the purpose of this course.
   • Produce a virtual presentation. "Here is my script, please create a video using these videos of my as training data." This does not allow you to work on your presentation skills. While you have created the content, you did not present it.
   • Create an outline for the presentation on its own. "Give me the outline I should use to compare and contrast the different asymmetric encryption." The outline is entirely AI's. The goal is to learn how to organize and present your learning. If AI does it all, you have not demonstrated that you have learned that skill.

For writing the semester paper

1. What is allowed
   • recommending changes in the writing style. "Here is my paper. I am working to improve the technical writing style. Please suggest 3 overall ideas on how to fix it and give me one example for each". You need to learn to improve technical writing. Here AI is not doing all the work but helping you learn to spot areas for improvement.
   • brainstorming organization of the paper. "Here are the ten ideas I need to include in the paper. One organization could be time based as I learned things throughout the semester. Please give me 4 others with reasons." Then you might say "I like option 3 but there are a few things missing. Here they are ... ." In this case you have included what should be in the paper, thought of a way (or two) to organize it, and are evaluating and improving on what AI returned.
2. What is not allowed
   • Writing content directly. "Here are all my notes. Please organize this into a paper using a technical writing style." One of the goals of the course it to show how well you can write (so that in the future, you can analyze the output of AI and improve on it). Having it write paragraphs, sections, or the entire paper does not provide you an opportunity to further develop that skill.
   • creating an outline for the paper on its own. This is the same as for creating an outline for a presentation.

How the instructor will use AI

1. When generating a form/rubric, AI might be used to convert the instructor's idea into a nice format
2. When developing lectures, AI might be used to brainstorm content which the instructor would review, improve, and format as needed
3. AI will not be used to grade students' work
   
   
   

AI disclosure

After the material was written, it was feed to ChatGPT for feedback. It was decided not to include any changes because any clarifications that students might need can be done in class or one-on-one