Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
Copyright
Use of sources in written assignments
In upper secondary school, students produce various types of written work: compositions, essays, reports, summaries, book or film reviews, portfolios, presentations and research papers. These assignments often involve the use of source material, though sometimes the text must be entirely original. The teacher's instructions will clarify how the task should be completed. The use of sources is regulated by the Copyright Act (Copyright Act 8.7.1961/404).
Quotation or direct citation
According to the Copyright Act, it is permitted to quote text verbatim from a published work. The quotation must be clearly marked in quotation marks and the source must be cited. There must be a valid reason for quoting and the quotation must be relevant to the topic.
Paraphrasing
The most common way to use a source work is to refer to its ideas, i.e. to summarise and explain the original text in its own words. This use of the source must also be indicated to the reader by a reference. Internet sources should be indicated in the same way.
Visual materials
Copyright Act also governs the use of all kinds of images, such as photographs, drawings, diagrams or even tables. The conditions for quoting them must be checked on a case-by-case basis with the source work.
The easiest materials to borrow are those under a Creative Commons licence, which can be used according to the terms of the licence.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism means the use of someone else's ideas or conclusions in one's own name without acknowledging the source, whether by referencing or direct quotation. Such use of a work is fraudulent; sources must always be cited in the agreed methods. Any work that is either partially or wholly plagiarised will be rejected. Plagiarism will always result in disciplinary action (e.g.,warning or suspension from the course).
Internet
The same copyright principles apply to the use of Internet sources. It is not allowed to quote or copy anything from the Internet without acknowledging the source, and some materials may be prohibited from use.
Sources and further information
Toikkanen, T. & Oksanen, V. 2011. Finn Lectura. Finn Lecture, T. and T. Lecture, T. and T. Lecture.
CreativeCommons. org
Copyright Act, Finlex .
Use of Artificial Intelligence
The following text is directly quoted from the page Use of Artificial Intelligence in Tredu and Tampere City Upper Secondary Schools
Tredu and Tampere City Upper Secondary Schools are allowed to use artificial intelligence. The educational organisations encourage all staff to use AI and to consider its use in various situations. Teachers have an important role in teaching working life skills and preparing students for a future society where AI will be widely used. Understanding and applying AI will be a competitive advantage in the transition to working life and further studies.
AI in studies
Students can use AI as part of their studies, within the limits set by the teacher. At best, students can, for example, brainstorm their ideas, structure essays or get started on creative assessments. AI can also assist in formulating research questions or understanding the assignment instructions. However, the students may not present AI-generated content as their own.
If the use of AI is allowed in the assignment, the student must indicate how and where AI was used in their response. The use of AI must be cited according to the teacher's instructions.
A general example of how to cite AI use might be:
Microsoft Copilot. Used for essay planning. Prompts "From what different perspectives could I look at the problems of the welfare state?" and "What is a good structure for a social studies essay?". ChatGPT4. Accessed 17 June 2024. Available at https://copilot.microsoft.com/.
If a student acts fraudulently and uses AI in an assignment where it is not allowed or the student does not report the use of AI as instructed, the institution's disciplinary policy will be followed.
NOTE! Currently, students do not have access to a protected version of Microsoft Copilot. However, the regular consumer version is available without logging in.
The Finnish National Board of Education and the Ministry of Education and Culture have published Artificial Intelligence in Early Childhood Education and Training - Legislation and Recommendations 2025.
This material will be available later in English.
Important considerations when using AI
When interacting with AI, never include:
- Your personal data (name, contact details, date of birth...)
- Other persons personal data
- Other data protected by privacy laws, such as health records, academic records, etc.
- Material for which the user does not have copyright, e.g. educational material from publishers
Requests made to AI may be stored in the application used and there is no certainty about the further use of the data, which may be very difficult or impossible to remove from the service used. Examples include Open AI's consumer versions of its Chat-GPT products and Microsoft Copilot's consumer version, where user-supplied data or documents may be used for purposes such as service development or other internal purposes by the service provider. The data stored may be located outside the EU/EEA and may not necessarily comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).