Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore student perceptions of generative AI use and cheating in health professions education. The authors sought to understand how students believe generative AI is acceptable to use in coursework.
Materials and methods: Five faculty members surveyed students across health professions graduate programs using an updated, validated survey instrument. Students anonymously completed the survey online, which took 10-20 min. Data were then tabulated and reported in aggregate form.
Results: Nearly 400 students from twelve academic programs including health and rehabilitation science, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, speech-language pathology, health administration and health informatics, undergraduate healthcare studies, nurse anesthesiology, and cardiovascular perfusion. The majority of students identify the threat of generative AI to graded assignments such as tests and papers, but many believe it is acceptable to use these tools to learn and study outside of graded assignments.
Conclusions: Generative AI tools provide new options for students to study and learn. Graduate students in the health professions are currently using generative AI applications but are not universally aware or in agreement of how its use threatens academic integrity. Faculty should provide specific guidance on how generative AI applications may be used.
Keywords: ChatGPT; Generative AI; artificial intelligence; cheating; higher education.