Student Perception of Using Generative AI Tools in Relation to Academic Integrity and Their Advantages and Disadvantages

The increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in learning contexts calls for a reassessment of the complex dynamics surrounding academic integrity. It is a “hot” topic in the academic community, given that these more generative AI tools have become available to students to complete student assignments, and universities have had to urgently adopt rules on their use for academic purposes. While some universities have completely banned the use of such programs for the purpose of writing assignments and essays because they believe that this violates academic integrity, some other universities believe that they have the potential to influence the way we learn and approach education and that generative AI tools they must use for the benefit of students and faculty staff. The aim of the study conducted at the universities of Vern and Algebra in Zagreb, in the winter semester academic year 2023/2024 was to investigate whether students use generative AI tools for writing assignments and academic papers, how they perceive academic integrity in relation to the use of generative AI tools, and the advantages and disadvantages of generative artificial intelligence tools.

I. Introduction

In the last decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has become virtually ubiquitous. People started doing most of the tasks by asking artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a particularly “hot” topic today. The application of artificial intelligence is wide and varied and its possibilities will grow very quickly in the future. In this context, generative AI tools represent a significant advance, allowing computers to create content such as images, music and text, which help us in various tasks; like recipes for today’s lunch, solving math problems, for writing essays etc. In this paper, first the very concept of generative AI tools will be explained, the most used generative AI tool, and academic integrity will be discussed and presented views on generative AI tools from the point of view of the most famous universities in the world. Also, what spurred the growth and development of artificial intelligence was the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector which was impacted the most was education.