How do students navigate the grey area between regulations and actual use, when university policies on artificial intelligence are still taking shape? This was one of the questions addressed at the 16th edition of The Future of Education (FOE) conference, through the paper „Navigating Ambiguity: A Comparative Study of AI Policies and Student Ethical Frameworks in Romanian, Bulgarian and Swiss Higher Education”, authored by Roxana Rogobete, Karla Csürös and Mădălina Chitez, as part of the TRAI project.

The research began by comparing institutional policies on the use of GenAI in Romania, Bulgaria and Switzerland with the real-life experiences of students who use these tools in academic writing.

The results showed that, although institutions in the three countries are moving towards common principles – transparency, human accountability and academic integrity – the degree of implementation varies considerably, ranging from permissive approaches and granular policies to regulations focused on documenting the process. At the same time, interviews with students from all three contexts revealed a gap between regulation and practice: they justify their use of AI tools by citing the need for efficiency and linguistic clarity, particularly as non-native speakers, whilst remaining cautious about the ‘hallucinations’ generated by AI, excessive reliance on it, and the risk of eroding critical thinking.

Through a comparative analysis of policies and student discourse, the authors have shown that adapting institutional frameworks beyond a simple ban is essential for the development of genuine AI literacy in European higher education.

The paper can be accessed here: https://conference.pixel-online.net/files/foe/ed0016/FP/6917-ICT8205-FP-FOE16.pdf