AI at UO

This page provides an overview of the University of Oregon’s foundational positions, policies, and programming related to generative AI (GenAI).

Here you will find the UO AI Council-endorsed and Provost-approved Statement of Purpose for the Use of AI in Teaching and Learning, answers to frequently asked questions, and high-level guidance for developing course policies. For the research behind these recommendations or support with redesigning assignments, explore AI and Learning and Course & Assignment Design.

UO Purpose Statement   |   AI Policy & Principled Practice   |   Writing Your Course Policy   |   Strategic Recommendations   |   AI Year of Action 

UO's AI Council worked with Provost Chris Long in the 2025-2026 academic year to develop a “north star” statement of purpose related to the university's educational uses of GenAI. It highlights the fact that UO education is evolving in light of GenAI, even as the university's core commitments to its liberal arts core and the human and relational are enduring.

True to our liberal arts core, the University of Oregon strives to explore and expand human potential as we integrate AI into our evolving educational mission. In our teaching and learning, we seek to combine the deepest understanding of the human condition with the most sophisticated engagement with technology. Recognizing that all technologies have affordances and limitations, we aim to bring forward critical and holistic perspectives on AI systems and, when appropriate, adopt AI purposefully to enhance the human capacity for ethical, critical, and creative thinking in our students and ourselves.

Find answers to common questions about the intersection of GenAI and UO’s instructional policies and guidance, including questions about AI detectors, monitoring software, and in-person assessments our AI Policy & Principled Practice: FAQs page. 

For example:  

Frequently Asked Questions

• What are my baseline responsibilities around GenAI? Have a syllabus policy statement on what AI use is allowed, decided at your own or your unit's discretion based on the course's learning objectives. Stay aware of how well AI can complete your assignments and exams and revise them as needed to protect assessment integrity.
• Can I penalize student work I suspect was generated by GenAI? You can always grade against your criteria. But a grade penalty specifically for suspected AI misconduct requires a formal finding from the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards first.
• Can I assign student work with GenAI? You can ask students to use AI through UO-approved systems—Copilot Chat with data protection, or AI features built into existing course platforms (e.g., ALEKS in Math, Westlaw CoCounsel in Law). With these tools, students don't need separate accounts with outside vendors. If you're teaching with a tool that does require students to create a third-party account, you must consider the security, accessibility, and cost of these tools, and provide the possibility to opt out.

Every UO syllabus should say something about GenAI. A good AI policy is learning-centered and transparent, whatever stance it takes. It names what students can learn from working with AI, or from working without it, in your specific course, and it says so clearly enough that students don't have to guess their way through grey areas.

Three Broad Stances

Sample policies on the GenAI Course Policies page are grouped by which of these an instructor takes:

Ready to draft one? Browse sample course policy statements.

Please Note

A syllabus statement isn't enough on its own. Research suggests students need to see AI expectations at the assignment level, not just the course level. Our AI-aware assignment template can help you carry your policy into individual assignments. Students have told us they want to understand why faculty land where they do, not just what the policy says. Communicate your rationale, not just the rule. For more assignment- and course-level moves, see Course & Assignment Design.

Executive Summary

The prevalence of generative AI requires a both/and approach at the University of Oregon: both embracing AI tools to prepare students for their careers and futures and deepening the human skills and relationships that give a liberal arts education its enduring value. This slate of 18 GenAI in Teaching and Learning recommendations, endorsed by the AI Council August 19, 2026, shifts us from individual, ad hoc responses to GenAI toward more systematic ones. It addresses baseline communications and data gathering and policy, teaching, and curricular development. Seven starred recommendations represent the Council’s highest priorities. These priority recommendations, if acted on, will result in three major advancements for the university:

• UO teaching expectations are AI aware: ensure faculty set clear course policies on AI use, receive feedback on their approaches, and, ultimately, have their work to adapt courses made visible in evaluation;
• UO grades reflect real learning: highlight essential—and in the case of #6, frankly urgent—work to ensure the integrity of our curriculum and grades, both by confirming that grades reflect real learning and by making sure the skills we teach remain meaningful; 
• UO intentionally repositions its curriculum: boldly signal to our students, prospective students, and the external world that UO is evolving in light of AI and that we teach the durable human skills a residential university is uniquely positioned to cultivate with uncommon focus. 

In fulfilling this full set of 18 recommendations, a year from now, we will have taken essential steps to ensure our students are still doing the thinking a UO education requires, our faculty can grow as teachers in the age of AI, we have a shared policy framework, and curricular change is in motion.

Read the details about each recommendation: Strategic Recommendations of UO AI Council

GenAI is reshaping what we teach, how students learn, and what skills they'll need for an evolving world of work. This year, the Office of the Provost invites you to help shape UO's response.

Join us to:

• Learn about UO's short-term strategic goals for GenAI in teaching and learning.
• Explore how faculty colleagues are adapting their courses—including through a renewed emphasis on human and relational skills.
• Drop in to events that anchor and celebrate faculty work throughout the year.
• Revise your own assignments in a community of practice with fellow instructors.
• Help shape institutional direction — defining AI literacy, researching student views, or supporting unit-level curricular work.
• Build your own AI literacy in conversation with expert colleagues.

Whatever your AI stance and whether you can commit to one event or a full year—we're glad to have you.

Use the sign up form below to express interest. 

Sign Up Today

This programming is supported by the University of Oregon Foundation Trustee Excellence Fund.

Key Elements of the Year of Action