Amid the sudden rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Monash University has issued guidelines for student use of the ChatGPT bot in assessments.

Monash has specified four options for ChatGPT use in assessments, reminding students that the university does not tolerate any form of academic or research misconduct.

"Monash is committed to creating a learning environment underpinned by the highest standards of academic integrity," the university said in a statement.

With ChatGPT being adopted in many classrooms across Monash's 10 faculties, restrictions on its use in assessment depending on the type of assessment and the faculty in which the unit is taught.

Third-year pharmacy student Elise Sinkeler said she is permitted to have limited use of ChatGPT in her studies.

“[Pharmacy students] can use it as a study tool to make a sample patient management plan,” Ms Sinkeler said. “I definitely would use it. You can ask nuanced questions and it comes up with a pretty accurate response,” she said.

“I will let it help me study for my units, but I don’t think I would feel comfortable using ChatGPT in class during group assignments."

Third-year software engineering student Lachlan Williams said he is able to use ChatGPT for some classes but not others.

“There are some units that do, and some that strongly suggest we don’t,” Mr Williams said. “The ones that do require us to declare what we’ve prompted it with and its response, as part of citing the assessment."

He has used the tool and will continue to use it throughout his studies, he said. “I have used it [both] in and out of class for personal projects and studying,” he said. “I mostly use it as an advanced form of Google.”

He said he was "not really concerned" about students using the program to cheat during assessments "despite the fact they probably will”.

Ms Sinkeler said she was not concerned with academic integrity issues when other students use ChatGPT for assessments, because pharmacy exams are invigilated.

“If [students] use it during all their assignments, they are still going to fail in the final exam. It is not like they will have any advantage over me,” she said.

Universities and schools across Australia are adapting to the use of generative AI, with similar policies designed to incorporate the software appropriately for students.