Embracing a new world: authentic assessment designs in an age of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)

Higher education academic practices are increasingly shaped by technologies. The recent advancement of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has posed both challenges and opportunities. In this paper, drawing on relevant literature through a rapid review, the authors argue that rethinking assessment design in an era of artificial intelligence is essential for preparing students for a rapidly evolving world. GenAI can help reconceptualise authenticity through students' transparent, purposeful interactions with this technology. In this shifting landscape, higher education must embrace authenticity as hybrid and relational, fostering assessment practices that value insight, context, and co-constructed meaning in technologically mediated learning environments. To illustrate how authentic assessment designs can be realised in the age of GenAI, four scenarios are presented: (1) the integration of GenAI within a social science assessment task; (2) GenAI-assisted language education; (3) the use of GenAI in a computer database assignment in computer science; and (4) the adoption of GenAI-enhanced assessment design in medical education. These scenarios demonstrate possibilities for aligning assessment designs in higher education with present technological realities. The paper also highlights the importance of developing GenAI literacy among staff and students, positioning such literacy as a foundational capability for effective and ethical engagement with AI-enabled assessment designs.