Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The University of Montana recognizes that generative AI presents new opportunities and challenges in teaching, research, and creative scholarship. To date, there are currently no campus-wide policies in place governing the use of AI, though the UM Student Code of Conduct has been updated to address generative AI in its definition of plagiarism. The Provost's office also maintains a list of AI resources for faculty.

Keeping up with AI tools and trends can feel like a Sisyphean task, particularly when it comes to evaluating and assessing student work. UM does not subscribe to any plagiarism detection software, and there are currently few--if any--reliable tools for detecting the use of generative AI in student assignments. Studies have shown that AI plagiarism detection tools regularly produce false positives and negatives; enact bias against non-native English speakers; and are not transparent in their methodology in determining what they suspect is AI-generated writing.

As a Microsoft campus, all University of Montana students and employees have institutional access to Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant. While Copilot is free and does not require users to create accounts, logging in with your UM Microsoft credentials will allow for personalization, access to additional features, and integration with other Microsoft applications.