Navigating the Ethical Frontier: Graduate Students’ Experiences with Generative AI-Mediated Scholarship

Abstract This qualitative study explores graduate students’ perceptions of using a generative AI-powered research application, COREI, and its impact on their sense of intellectual and scholarly ethics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with graduate students ( n = 10), four doctoral and six masters’, from a large research university in Western Canada. Participants were given access to COREI for one month and encouraged to use its features in their research projects. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed four main themes: (1) academic integrity and generative AI collaboration, (2) agency in the generative AI-assisted research process, (3) authorship and the personalization of AI-generated content, and (4) originality through generative AI-assisted research. Although some participants initially expressed concerns about the potential for AI to compromise academic integrity, many came to view COREI as a collaborative tool that, when used responsibly, could enhance their research without infringing upon their scholarly ethics. Participants emphasized the importance of human agency and decision-making in the AI-assisted research process, and the need for critical evaluation and personalization of AI-generated content to maintain authorship. Originality emerged as a collaborative feat between human expertise and AI’s generative capabilities. The findings suggest a need for reconceptualizing traditional notions of agency, authorship, and originality in the context of AI-assisted research. The study highlights the importance of developing ethical frameworks and institutional policies that prioritize human agency and critical engagement with AI-generated content, while also emphasizing the need for further research on the long-term impacts of generative AI on intellectual and scholarly ethics.