Generative AI Policy: A Pedagogical Communication Tool and Virtue Ethics Gateway

Institution and classroom policies not only define academic practices but also potentially influence student behavior-positive or negative. The emerging technology of generative AI (GAI) requires administration and instructors to consider policy design concepts that are ideologically new to pedagogy. As academic scholars and instructors grapple with the emerging technology of generative AI usage, I suggest applying the ethical framework of virtue ethics (VE) to policy design, which will encourage virtue habituation within students, while promoting ethical usage of generative AI in their composition works. The virtue ethics framework also better prepares students for the use of future technology. Virtue Ethics is a philosophical approach to developing good character by choice, not force. One chooses to build habits (hexis) that lead to a virtue which becomes part of their character. Immerging from Aristotle, Confucius, and Buddhist, virtue ethics is being studied and evaluated by scholars and facilitators today. Refer to Rhetoric, Technology, and the Virtues by Jared Colton and Steve Holmes [1], or Provocations of Virtue by John Duffy [2] for further study. The scholarly work I will be referencing is by Professor Shannon Vallor, an American philosopher of technology. Approaching policy design through the lens of VE will not only set guidelines of learning, but also encourage ethical practices through the cultivation of virtues. These virtues can then be carried beyond the academic sphere into the professional world as AI technology plays a larger role in our society. In the case of generative AI, the conditions for habituating honesty and self-control can be created through course lessons and assignments if the policies are written with that intent in mind. This paper will first introduce generative AI and the need for adjoining academic policies. Then, it will discuss the theory of virtue ethics and how it is the ideal framework to design a generative AI policy. Additionally, the essay presents institutional policies from Yale University, Purdue University, and Utah State University by analyzing how the policies are currently working or not working in building honesty and self-control through measurable concepts. Finally, I will provide recommendations on how to revise or create new generative AI policy that interweaves virtuous development of honesty and self-control for students as they are improving their composition skills ethically.