“When Honesty is Good, for Imitation is Bad”: Strategies for Using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Russian Higher Education Institutions

The issue of using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in education is the focus of both its advocates and critics. The world academic community is trying to consider the rapidly spreading phenomenon, to determine its place in the educational process and to work out the regulatory framework. The application of GenAI-powered services changes conceptual and didactic foundations of education. In order to predict scenarios of university education development and timely response on the managerial level, the community needs survey data on the use of GenAI-powered services and tools by the educational process actors – university academic staff and students. The paper contributes to the study of patterns of GenAI-powered services use by students and university teachers. The authors surveyed students (N = 450), researchers and teaching staff (N = 228) of the Moscow City University. The greater popularity of GenAI among students and a more discreet position on the use of GenAI-powered services by university teachers is determined by different strategies of their use. The complementary function of GenAI-powered services in the active strategy of a university teacher does not change the essence of the educational process compared to the students’ one. The accomplishment of written assignments with the help of GenAI as the most common application of GenAI-powered tools among students transforms the conventional understanding of responsibility and transparency of educational results. The findings highlight the reconsideration of higher education nature and require to transform educational practices in teaching and learning. The authors conclude that the contradictory attitudes towards GenAI require the assumption of ethical and regulatory norms for the use of GenAI-powered services in (higher) education, as well as increasing the level of AI literacy among teachers and students.

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