Our strategy pledges to give its students the education they need to flourish in a changing world.
The rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into workplaces, education and wider society, and the skillsets required to use AI well, provides an opportunity to refresh the ways in which we approach the use of AI technologies in student learning, through our teaching, assessment and research practices.
Students and staff need exposure to widely used tools to remain competitive and literate in the digital economy. At the same time, we recognise that providing access to AI tools, including those developed by large technology companies, raises important questions about environmental impact, equity, and justice.
These concerns sit alongside our commitments to climate action, social purpose, and decolonial practice. Rather than ignoring these tensions, we aim to engage with them critically and transparently. We will strive to use AI in ways that align as closely as possible with our values, while equipping our community to question, challenge, and shape the future of these technologies
Definition of AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to a spectrum of computational systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as pattern recognition, language processing, and decision-making, by learning from data and adapting over time.
Our approach
Our approach to AI emphasizes critical literacy, ethical responsibility, and creative agency.
Eco-social commitment
We acknowledge that AI systems have significant material and social impacts throughout their lifecycle, including environmental costs and human labour. We are aligning our teaching, procurement and use of AI with the Climate Action Plan, Net Zero, and Social Purpose Plan.
Decolonising knowledge
We recognise multiple ways of knowing, including Indigenous, non‑Western, and community‑rooted knowledge, and the risks that AI can reproduce Western‑centric biases. We therefore commit to decolonial approaches in AI teaching, assessment, and research, informed by a diversity of voices and experiences, and grounded in context, participation, and equity. We are aligned with the mission of the UAL Decolonising Arts Institute which seeks to challenge colonial and imperial legacies, disrupting ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making in order to drive cultural, social and institutional change.
Sustainability‑by‑design principles
When adopting or recommending AI tools, we are seeking options that are transparent about training data and environmental impacts; we are striving for less resource‑intensive workflows where learning outcomes can be met without high‑compute models.
Values and Principles
We believe AI can be used to enhance student learning. Our approach is not to replace the skills, knowledge and experience of our educators but to develop the AI literacy and capabilities of our staff and students, to critically explore and appropriately apply use of AI, uphold our standards of academic integrity, and honour our commitment to becoming a social purpose university.
Informed by the work of the Russell Group (2023), our approach is underpinned by the following principles:
Responsible engagement
- Championing data justice & decolonial practice and challenging extractive data practices.
- Promoting awareness of bias, inaccuracy and misinterpretation of AI outputs.
- Valuing academic integrity in all AI use.
- Embedding ethical considerations for climate, social, and racial justice.
- Advancing planetary care through energy-conscious AI choices.
Informed practice
- Empowering staff to guide students in responsible AI use with confidence and understanding.
- Fostering ongoing dialogue between staff and students to build shared understanding of AI’s role in learning.
- Encouraging inclusive teaching approaches beyond Euro-American contexts.
- Guiding students to situate AI outputs within diverse cultural perspectives and lived experiences.
- Promoting transparency in acknowledging AI assistance.
Fair and flexible adoption
- Acknowledging that AI usage is likely to differ between creative disciplines
- Encouraging staff to adapt AI use for diverse learners and individual needs.
- Promoting fairness and inclusivity in AI access, seeking approaches that avoid inequity.
Academic integrity
- Upholding academic integrity by cultivating informed, ethical use of AI and encouraging open dialogue about challenges.
- Valuing openness, encouraging students to explore and debate AI challenges without fear.
Collective growth in a changing landscape
- Acknowledging that AI is a complex, nuanced and fast changing arena. No individual, group or team within the university hold all the answers.
- Understanding the technical, social, educational and ethical considerations as committed partners with each other, our students, employers, as well as sector and professional bodies.
- Valuing the input of others, along with contributing expertise to national and international discussions around AI and its applications within teaching, learning, and research.
Space for resistance
- Recognising that resistance to AI is a meaningful response to the social, cultural and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
- Respecting students and staff choice and decisions around their use of AI
- Encouraging engagement with critical debates surrounding AI’s social, cultural and environmental impacts, so that staff and students are empowered to take informed decisions.
- Valuing transparency in how AI is integrated into courses, so students and staff can make informed decisions.
Learn more
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Students in the Digital Labs, 2023, Central Saint Martins | Photograph by Bruce Basudde
Student guide to generative AI
Learn how to use AI in your studies.
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2017 Information and Interface Design, London College of Communication, UAL | Photograph: UAL
AI and Arts Education
Explore our guides and resources to learn how to use AI in your learning and teaching.