FAQ Generative AI
Here we have collected frequently asked questions about the use of generative AI in education at KTH. You will find answers to questions such as how students use generative AI, whether it is possible to detect the use of generative AI, and how you should use generative AI as a teacher.
Question compilation
Last reviewed August 18, 2025.
To get to the questions, scroll down the page or press on the question in one of the lists in this compilation.
What is generative AI – and how does it differ from traditional AI?
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content. For example, writing texts, drawing pictures, composing music, creating videos or even writing code. It is called "generative" because it generates (that is, creates) something new, instead of just analyzing or recognizing information.
How does generative AI differ from other AI?
To understand the difference, we can compare it to traditional AI, which is more often used to recognize, classify or make decisions based on data.
Traditional AI is like someone who reads a book and can answer questions about it.
Generative AI is like someone who reads many books and then writes their own book based on the rules and styles used in the books they have read.
Are there guidelines for how I can use generative AI at KTH?
Yes and no. There are no KTH-specific guidelines, but there are guidelines that apply to employees at all Swedish authorities, such as KTH. E-learning has adapted guidelines for generative AI in public administration from DIGG (the Swedish Agency for Digital Government) as well as ethical guidelines published by the EU Commission. You are recommended to use these adapted guidelines as they will help you use generative AI ethically and legally. The guidelines emphasize the importance of thoughtful use of AI with a focus on how it helps and affects people.
Read the guidelines on the page Considerations for using generative AI .
Are there guidelines for how students can use generative AI at KTH?
Each course responsible must decide what is and is not allowed in regards to the use of generative AI in their courses, and add that information to Canvas and to the course memo. This is called the course-specific information on generative AI and is explained in more detail on the following page: KTH's templates for course-specific information on generative AI .
The student website also have recommendations for students that they can choose to follow: Considerations for studying with generative AI .
How do students use generative AI in their studies?
Most students are familiar with common AI tools and a majority use them in some way in their studies. University-level students use generative AI in several ways, most often as a tool to save time, improve the quality of their work or understand complex subjects better. A Nordic study with over 500 university students shows that common areas of use are:
- formulating ideas
- writing draft texts
- analyzing academic sources
- asking questions about subject content
- summarizing long texts
- writing or explaining code.
Many students find that tools like ChatGPT can function as a kind of personal study assistant. Get the full study: Öhrn, R., Rosell, M., Liljeström, T., & Hagberg, N. (2025). Studenters användning av generativ AI i samband med studier.
Can I see if a text is written using, for example, ChatGPT?
No, not with 100% certainty. There are tools that can indicate whether a text is created by AI, but they are not always reliable, especially for texts in Swedish. The tools also risk incorrectly claiming that human-written material is AI-generated, especially for academic texts that students are often not used to writing.
Research shows that it is difficult to reliably detect AI-generated text, see for example Elkhatat, A.M., Elsaid, K. & Almeer, S. Evaluating the efficacy of AI content detection tools in differentiating between human and AI-generated text. Int J Educ Integr 19, 17 (2023) .
You can read about how AI detectors work in the following blog post: How reliable are AI detectors for academic text and should you use AI for writing? (effortlessacademic.com) .
Is there a centrally purchased tool for generative AI?
No, there is currently no centrally purchased generative AI tool at KTH. This means that open AI tools like ChatGPT are used at your own risk and that they are not adapted for handling sensitive information or personal data according to KTH's rules for information security and data protection: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) .
Microsoft Copilot is used in some KTH environments, mainly linked to Office 365 tools such as Word and Excel, but there is no central procurement or institutional policy that regulates the use of Copilot as a generative AI tool in teaching or research. Just as with other AI tools, one should be careful about entering sensitive or personally related information, as stated in the guidelines on the page Considerations for using generative AI .
What should I avoid entering into an AI tool like ChatGPT?
It is important to pay particular attention to privacy and data protection when using AI tools like ChatGPT. You should never input personal data, student work, exam answers, or other sensitive or confidential information, even if it is only for the purpose of getting feedback or rewording text.
The background is that many generative AI tools use input data to further develop their models – which means that information you enter could potentially be stored, shared, or used for training in the future. While some AI tools offer features to limit data collection, it is always wise to proceed with caution.
How do I get students to follow the rules I have outlined in the course-specific information about generative AI?
Students are more likely to follow rules if they can understand why the rules exist, if they see others following them, and if there are clear consequences for not following them. Therefore, you should inform your students about what you base your rules on and live as you teach, in addition to explaining which uses that count as attempts to mislead.
Read more on the pages:
- Prevent and discourage prohibited use of generative AI .
- Hinder and detect prohibited use of generative AI .
Can I require students to use generative AI in my course?
No, we cannot require students to use generative AI right now (written in August 2025). The reason is that we cannot yet ensure that generative AI tools comply with all legal requirements on data protection, copyright and GDPR. This topic is currently being actively discussed and investigated within the EU, and it is therefore possible that this recommendation will change in the future.
Until we have full control over how our data is used by generative AI tools, we should be extra careful about how we use them. The use of generative AI should therefore be on a voluntary basis.
How can I use generative AI to support my teaching?
Generative AI has many uses, such as:
- Create lesson plans and course materials: Generative AI can help you quickly come up with suggestions for structure, formulate learning objectives or write texts for presentations and worksheets.
- Design test questions and exercises: AI can generate examples and suggestions for questions, quizzes or case studies based on your subject area.
- Facilitate language support: If you teach in English or have students with different language backgrounds, AI can help formulate simpler and clearer texts or translations.
- Stimulates creativity and idea development: AI can act as a sounding board to generate ideas for projects, essays or discussion questions.
- Support for coding and technical topics: AI can help explain or generate examples of code and technical solutions that can be used in teaching.
Note! It is important to always review and adapt the material that AI generates to ensure quality and relevance.
To use it effectively, you need to explain your idea to the AI tool in detail and explain what you expect to get out of the tool. For example, if you want the tool to develop your idea, suggest other variations or give you feedback.
Read more about how you can use generative AI:
Where can I learn more about generative AI as a teacher and who can I contact for support around AI and pedagogy at KTH?
KTH offers several resources and workshops for teachers who want to deepen their knowledge of generative AI.
- General information can be found at Generative AI in higher education .
- KTH Library has information about AI and information retrieval .
- KTH E-learning has three workshops on generative AI that you can order yourself or ask your manager to order for your team. You can also register for them when they appear in the E-learning calendar :
For more support you can also contact us at E-learning, see the contact information below.