AI Use in the Extended Essay (DP IB Extended Essay): Revision Note

What kinds of AI use are permitted & how must they be acknowledged?

Permitted research support

• Artificial intelligence (AI) — technologies that use machine learning to augment or replace certain tasks

• Generative AI — tools that rely heavily on machine learning to seek information and produce new content

• AI tools can be used to support idea generation, such as identifying ethical dilemmas or refining a research question (RQ) — the focused question that directs the inquiry

• Students may use these tools for resource comparison and summarising — the process of creating a short version of a long text to determine its relevance

• Permitted uses include language support, such as translation or using grammar checkers to scaffold communication

• AI can assist with data analysis by providing visualisation options like charts and graphs for large data sets

• Tools that suggest spelling/grammar edits are fine, but you must make the decisions yourself; do not use AI to rewrite paragraphs or generate your argument

Prohibited use and academic integrity

• Students must not use generative AI to write any part of their extended essay

• The essay must be an authentic piece of work — based on the student's own original ideas while fully acknowledging the work of others

• Using AI-generated writing and presenting it as your own work is considered dishonest and a breach of academic integrity

• Academic integrity — a set of values and behaviours that promote honesty in learning and assessment

Formal acknowledgement requirements

• If you use AI-generated content in your essay (text, images, or paraphrased ideas), you must cite it at the point of use and include it in your bibliography (with prompt + date). If you use AI only for planning (eg brainstorming), keep a prompt log in your RRS as evidence of your process.

• Bibliography — a list of every source consulted during the research process

• If AI content is quoted, paraphrased, or used to create images, it must be cited at the point of use

• In-text citations for AI must use quotation marks around the used content

• Bibliographic entries for AI must include the specific prompt used — the instruction or question given to the tool — and the date the content was generated

Using AI Tools Responsibly

The skill of prompt engineering

• Prompt engineering (writing clear, specific questions/prompts)— the process of creating effective and specific instructions to produce desired outputs from an AI tool

• Learning to write effective prompts is a form of assisted inquiry that develops critical thinking and communication skills

• Students should record their prompt history and keep a detailed record of their AI interactions

• Maintaining a prompt history helps to confirm the authenticity of the work and provides evidence of the student's own research process

Verifying accuracy and reliability

• Students are responsible for evaluating the accuracy and reliability of any information suggested by AI

• AI tools can hallucinate — a phenomenon where the technology generates false or fabricated information

• All AI-generated content must be checked for bias — an unfair preference for a particular idea or group — and factual inaccuracies

• Information must be validated against vetted sources — materials such as academic journals or encyclopaedias that have undergone a formal review process

AI as a non-authoritative source

• AI tools cannot be treated as authoritative academic sources because they may rely on unvetted or community-based knowledge

• Students must use critical thinking to filter through AI suggestions rather than relying on them as primary evidence

• The quality of AI output depends heavily on the student's ability to query the tool effectively and evaluate the results