Documents seen by The College Tribune through a Freedom of Information request have shown a recorded 47 breaches of academic integrity from AI use by students in the 2025/2026 academic year, according to the UCD School Academic Integrity Committees.
The figures mark the first academic year in which UCD has separately recorded unauthorised use of AI as its own category of academic misconduct, following an update to the UCD Student Code of Conduct in the 2024/2025 Academic year. Prior to this, alleged AI-related misconduct was recorded under broader categories such as plagiarism or third-party authorship, making it difficult to track the number of students facing disciplinary procedures over AI use in the university.
Of the 47 cases recorded by School Academic Integrity Committees, 12 were advanced to the University’s Student Discipline Procedure. The latter route, a university-wide procedure, is generally used for more serious cases or where multiple breaches have been reported. These cases primarily faced reprimands and a reduction of a grade or grade component.
To date, no student appeals cases against disciplinary decisions relating to unauthorised use of AI were upheld under the Student Appeals Procedure.
UCD continues to develop its approach to AI, which may leave some confusion for students.
Under UCD’s Faculty Guidelines for the Use of AI in Teaching and Learning, lecturers have “academic freedom to decide if and how AI is used in their module.” The guidelines warn that “faculty should be cautious about issuing blanket and unenforceable bans against the use of AI by students as part of their autonomous learning.”
UCD does not currently allow for the use of AI detection tools to monitor or detect inappropriate use of AI. This raises the question of how Schools detect usage. Under UCD’s academic misconduct procedure, module coordinators can refer suspected misconduct to a School Academic Integrity Committee, providing the grounds for suspicion, a copy of the student’s work and supporting evidence.
Aisling Murphy – Co-Editor