AI helped you write a story for school. What should you do?

Copy a friend’s story instead

What's the honest thing to do when AI helped with homework?

Follow the rules and say how it helped

Course 7, lesson 69 of 100, Ages 10+

Credit and copying

Being honest about AI help

Like I’m 5

If a friend helps you build a sandcastle, you say ‘we built it together’. If AI helps you make something, say so too.

The big idea

When AI helps you make something, being honest about it matters. In school, follow your teacher's rules and say what the AI did, for example 'AI helped me brainstorm ideas'.

There are also questions about the artists and writers whose work AI learned from. Respecting creators means not copying someone's style to pass it off as theirs, and crediting people whose work you build on.

Examples

Homework: 'I used AI to check my spelling' in a note to your teacher.
Posters: 'Image made with an AI tool' in small print.
Artists: Not using AI to fake a famous illustrator's signature style.

How it works

When AI helps with your work, say so. That’s honest, and many schools and jobs require it.
AI learned from work made by real people, like artists and writers. Respect their work.
Use AI to help you think and practise, not to copy. Your own ideas are what make your work yours.

Check your understanding

AI helped you write a story for school. What should you do?: Options: Say that AI helped; Pretend you wrote it all; Copy a friend’s story instead.
Answer: Say that AI helped. Being open about AI help is honest and fair to everyone.
What's the honest thing to do when AI helped with homework?: Options: Follow the rules and say how it helped; Hide it; Say you did everything alone.
Answer: Follow the rules and say how it helped. Honesty about AI help builds trust.

Remember

Say when AI helped, and keep your own ideas at the centre.

Talk about it

How do we say thank you when someone helps us?

Go deeper

Copyright rules for AI training and AI-generated work are still being decided in courts and laws around the world. Good practice: disclose AI use, check your school’s or employer’s policy, never pass off generated work as entirely your own, and avoid copying a living artist’s style for commercial work.