Artificial Intelligence Policy

Background

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including generative AI (genAI), retrieval augmented generation, agentic AI systems, and similar capabilities present ethical, professional and legal issues in higher education, including at Davidson. The exploration of AI capabilities is essential to meet the college’s mission of preparing its students for lives of leadership and service in the twenty-first century. At the same time, guidance is required to ensure the college meets its obligation to use AI in appropriate ways for teaching, learning, research and administrative use.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to detail the current acceptable practices for use of AI at Davidson. In many cases, these reflect those uses currently approved by various divisions of the college; in other cases, this policy seeks to anticipate emerging questions.

Due to the rapid evolution of AI, Davidson community members should consult their dean, vice president or division head for guidance over questions of acceptable uses of AI if this policy does not address them.

Policy

Community-wide expectations for use of AI

AI-assisted wearable and recording tools, such as smart glasses, AI-connected microphones, and transcription and summarization capabilities in collaboration platforms (e.g., Zoom), must be used in ways that balance productivity and convenience with a respect for all participants’ privacy.

AI-assisted wearable and recording tools, such as smart glasses, AI-connected microphones, and transcription and summarization capabilities in collaboration platforms (e.g., Zoom), must be used in ways that balance productivity and convenience with a respect for all participants’ privacy.
Individuals wishing to use a recording device or wearable to record, transcribe, and/or summarize a conversation or gathering must receive affirmative permission of all participants before using the technology.
- The Audio and Visual Recording of Classes policy in the current edition of the Academic Regulations sets forth the terms and conditions for recording a class or other organized teaching activity, such as lab sessions.
- The “Invasion of Privacy” section of the Code of Responsibility in the Student Handbook sets forth expectations regarding audio, video and other recordings.
If a collaboration platform is enabled for recording and transcription, the platform must provide a conspicuous notice to all participants of the feature’s use. Upon request from any participant, the meeting host must disable the use of recording and transcription capabilities in any Davidson-licensed technology service used for the meeting.
Recordings and transcripts of meetings, classes, conversations and other gatherings should by default be considered private among those who participated and should not be shared publicly or with other persons without the permission of all participants.

Davidson College data is organized into four data classifications by the Data Security Policy – Public, Internal, Restricted and Confidential.

Public data may be uploaded to or analyzed in any publicly-available AI platform or any college provided AI platform.
Internal and Restricted data may only be uploaded to or analyzed in a college-provided AI platform, while logged into a Davidson account. Technology & Innovation maintains a list of such platforms; contact the T&I Support Center or visit the college AI website for details. At the time of this policy, the provided platforms are:
- Amplify (pro-level ChatGPT and Claude) - amplify.davidson.edu
- Google Gemini - gemini.google.com
- College-provided ChatGPT Pro and Claude Pro licenses
Confidential data may not be uploaded to or analyzed in any AI platform without review by Davidson’s Information Security Program Manager.

A college-provided license is one granted via centralized purchasing processes administered by T&I. A license procured in any other way, even if it is purchased with college funds, is not, for the purposes of this policy, college-provided. Individual employees and departments should not license their own AI tools without approval from T&I. r.

Academic uses of AI

Faculty use of AI tools in their teaching, research and creative work is subject to professional standards and guidelines issued by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, faculty governance, and professional societies.

Faculty individually set the policy for acceptable use of AI in their classes, if any, on a course-by-course and/or assignment-by-assignment basis. Students should consult the course syllabus and the instructor for guidance on permissible uses of AI.

Davidson may provide AI tools accessible to all students to ensure equitable access to technology for all students. The availability of an AI tool from the college does not correspond to permission to use the capabilities of that tool in a particular course.
Faculty are strongly urged to include a generative AI statement on their syllabi. Resources are available to support faculty in developing these statements.
Violations of this policy may be handled as with any matter of academic integrity, including but not limited to referral to the Honor Council.

Administrative uses of AI

Procuring AI solutions

As with all technology services and products, any college department or division wishing to procure a technology solution that provides or uses AI capabilities must review the request with T&I, and any technology agreements or contracts must be reviewed and approved by the Chief Information Officer and other college officials as required by the College Contract Policy.

College agreements for the use of AI should include language governing the privacy and security of Davidson’s information, as well as how the solution provider may use Davidson data to train, develop and improve their models.

Uses of AI affecting the workplace

Departments and divisions intending to use AI capabilities to perform work that would ordinarily be done by college staff should review their planned uses with the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for guidance before undertaking any such project.

For use cases where such AI technology would displace existing college staff, the CHRO and CIO will prepare a recommendation of the proposal for review by the President.

Considerations for AI generated content

The use of AI to generate public-facing content such as websites, audio or video content, or other materials for public dissemination is governed by communications guidelines promulgated by College Communications and posted to the college’s Marketing Toolbox.

Additionally, users of generative AI tools are cautioned that the copyright implications of works created in whole or in part using AI technology are uncertain and have not been resolved through relevant lawmaking or legal processes. Individuals creating works for which the individual and/or the college may assert copyright privileges (see, e.g., the College Intellectual Property Policy) are advised to seek advice on the current state of AI and copyright before using AI in their work.

One helpful source of guidance is the U.S. Copyright Office’s resources on copyright and AI.

Administration of Policy

The Chief Information Officer is responsible for ensuring that this policy is reviewed every six months. The Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), with input from the governing bodies of the faculty, is responsible for college policies on academic uses of AI. The college senior leadership team (SLT) is responsible for concurring on policies governing administrative and community-wide uses of AI.

Last reviewed: March 2026