Am I allowed to use ChatGPT for university assignments in the UK?

Where the rules actually come from

There is no single national rule for UK universities. What exists is a set of shared principles and then a lot of local detail.

In July 2023 the Russell Group published principles on the use of generative AI tools in education. They commit member universities to support students and staff to become AI literate, to adapt teaching and assessment to include ethical use of AI, and to ensure academic rigour and integrity are upheld. They also say plainly that appropriate uses of these tools "are likely to differ between academic disciplines", and that departments will apply institution-wide policy in their own context.

That last point is why two of your modules can have different answers. The university policy sets the frame. The module handbook and the assessment brief tell you what applies to the piece of work in front of you.

The three-tier pattern you will see most often

Many universities now label each assessment by how much AI is allowed. UCL's guidance on using AI tools in assessment is a clear example, and plenty of other institutions use something close to it:

Category	What it means	Typical examples
1. AI tools cannot be used	The task tests skills you must show unaided	In-person exams, class tests, vivas, some practicals
2. AI in an assistive role	AI is allowed for specific, named steps	Help with structure, limited support with writing, feedback, proofreading, testing code
3. AI has an integral role	Using AI well is part of what is assessed	Generating ideas, comparing AI and human text, summarising, critiquing AI output

UCL also says the use of generative AI "does not automatically constitute academic misconduct", and that students using it in assessed work should acknowledge how they used it. Misuse is handled as plagiarism or falsification. Your university may word this differently, but the shape is common.

How to find your own answer in ten minutes

1. Open the assessment brief for the specific piece of work. Look for a heading on AI, generative AI or academic integrity, or a category number.
2. If the brief says nothing, check the module handbook or the module page on your virtual learning environment (Moodle, Blackboard or Canvas).
3. Then read your university's academic integrity or academic misconduct policy. Search the university site for "generative AI" plus "students".
4. If it is still unclear, email the module leader and ask a specific question: "Can I use ChatGPT to suggest a structure for essay 2, if I declare it?" Keep the reply.
5. Note what you are allowed to use and for which steps, before you start, not the night before the deadline.

Uses that are usually fine, and uses that usually are not

When AI is allowed in an assistive role, these are the uses most guidance accepts, as long as you declare them:

• asking for an explanation of a concept you are stuck on, then checking it against your reading;
• asking for feedback on the clarity of a paragraph you wrote;
• getting a suggested outline to react to, which you then rework;
• spelling and grammar checks.

These are usually not acceptable unless the brief says otherwise:

• submitting AI-generated paragraphs as your own writing;
• letting a tool rewrite your work so heavily that the ideas or argument changed;
• using AI in an assessment marked as category 1;
• citing references an AI produced without reading them (see the thread on that topic as it fills in).

What "declare it" means in practice

Most universities ask for a short statement: which tool, what you used it for, and that the final work is yours. Some have a form or a template sentence. Keep your prompts and the chat history, and keep your own drafts with version history in Word or Google Docs. If anyone ever asks how you wrote something, that record does more for you than any argument.

A note on detectors

Some UK universities run AI writing detection and some, UCL among them, say they are not investing in it. Either way, a policy-compliant, declared use of AI is the thing that protects you. A detector score is not a rule, and it is not the same as a finding of misconduct.

If you post a follow-up, tell us your university type, your course, and what your assessment brief says. The answer depends on that wording far more than on any general rule.