Visvesvaraya Technological University to allow up to 20% AI-generated content in research

Bengaluru: Acknowledging the extensive employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by research scholars, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has decided to allow up to 20% computer-generated content in the scholars’ theses. VTU has warned candidates of their theses being returned if the percentage of computer-generated content exceeds 20%; repeated failure to restrict computer-generated content to 20% will result in the thesis being rejected.

All guides and research scholars were intimated about the cap on computer-generated content in a circular issued by the varsity on Wednesday. Citing instances wherein AI-generated content constituted up to 70% of a thesis, VTU decided to fix the threshold at 20%.

PhD theses are crosschecked for plagiarism using dedicated software tools. The tolerance for unoriginal content in a thesis is 10%. VTU Vice-Chancellor S Vidyashankar lamented that students were turning to ‘smart’ work instead of hard work. “This can be detrimental to academic interests. If we fail to check this now, it can become a serious problem,” he said.

The circular also lays down guidelines for guides, who have been asked to educate and warn students about overuse of AI.

“The purpose of research is to learn and discover something new in a particular subject. But scholars are misusing AI to complete their research more quickly. This will raise questions about the propriety of the research, besides being unfair to those engaged in serious research,” said VTU Registrar (Evaluation) U J Ujwal.

Conceding the ubiquity of AI in academia, Ujwal, however, stressed the need to prevent its misuse.