This checklist does not replace your institution's rule. Where your university, faculty, or supervisor says something different, they win.
One line per institution, taken from its own page. Faculties and supervisors often add rules on top, so open the link and check what applies to your programme.
Agree AI use with your supervisor before you write, and disclose it in the signed declaration of originality that goes with every thesis.
Scope Declaration form is university-wide; the supervisor decides what is allowed and the format.
Disclose AI use in a statement. Submitting AI-generated content as your own without attribution counts as plagiarism.
Scope EPFL-wide guidelines; the course or instructor sets the wording of the statement.
Generative AI tools usually have to be declared; spell-checkers usually do not. You must find out each course's rule yourself.
Scope Depends on your faculty: faculties and programme directors set the binding rules.
No general ban; lecturers decide. AI may only play a supporting role in assessed work. Label AI use as Leitfaden v3.0 sets out.
Scope Depends on your faculty: lecturers per course; faculties that require a declaration of independent authorship get a sample wording.
Lecturers define the authorised aids and may require an adapted declaration of authenticity. Where AI is allowed, the legal service's guidance (8 Oct 2025) recommends naming the AI tool in it.
Scope Depends on your lecturer and institute; some institutes require a separate AI declaration for BA and MA theses.
You are personally responsible for how you use AI; a breach cannot be blamed on the tool. Faculties set the specific conditions.
Scope Depends on your faculty; no university-wide thesis rule.
If your teacher has not explicitly allowed an AI tool, assume it is not allowed. If it is, declare which tool you used and for what.
Scope Per course and assignment; teacher and faculty instructions come first.
The responsible lecturer can set rules. Where they don't, guideline v4.0.0, section 5.2.3 applies: add a list of each generative AI system and its purpose.
Scope Lecturer first; otherwise the default list (v4.0.0, section 5.2.3).
Clearly label AI-generated content in academic work.
Scope Depends on your department: departments and degree programmes set the rules, modules can go further, and lecturers decide how to label it.
Record every AI use for drafting in a register annexed to the paper. Taking over AI output, verbatim or reworded, without a footnote counts as plagiarism.
Scope Law faculty only; master's and seminar papers begun from 16 Feb 2026.
Checked 16 Oct 2026. Missing your university? Send us the official link. Send a link
Settle the rules before the first prompt, not the week before submission.
Find the rule that applies to your thesis: university, then faculty, then programme. Where they differ, follow the strictest.
Ask your supervisor which AI uses are allowed for this thesis, and get the answer in writing. An email is enough.
Read the declaration of originality you will sign at the end. Check whether it mentions AI, and what it makes you confirm.
Before you upload unpublished data, interview transcripts, or anyone else's manuscript, check where the tool processes and stores it.
The declaration is only as good as your notes. Write them down on the day you use a tool.
Log each AI use on the day: date, tool, model or version, what you asked in one line, and what you kept.
Save the prompts and outputs that end up in the thesis, even in edited form. Export or screenshot them; chat histories get deleted.
Mark AI-assisted passages in your draft with a comment or colour, so you can find them again at the end.
Keep every source in a reference manager from day one, not in a chat window.
Watch out with Zotero: Local-first control requires backup, cleanup, and metadata discipline
Treat AI summaries and search answers as leads to read, not as sources to cite.
Watch out with Perplexity: Deep Research can sound comprehensive while missing primary/paywalled sources
Watch out with NotebookLM: Corpus-grounded is not exhaustive literature coverage
Watch out with Consensus: Retrieval/ranking can make a field look settled
Use your institution's form if it has one. The template below is a starting point, not a replacement.
Name each tool, and the model or version where you know it.
Say what you used it for (search, translation, language editing, code, analysis) and what you did not use it for.
Say where: which chapters or parts of the thesis it touched.
Say how you checked the output before keeping it.
Plan a full day for this. It is where AI-assisted theses usually fail.
Open every cited source yourself. A reference you only saw in an AI answer does not count until you find it in a database or resolve its DOI.
Watch out with Crossref: Metadata coverage depends on publisher deposits
Check every direct quote and page number against the PDF.
Check that each source says what your sentence claims it says, not just that it exists.
Watch out with Scite: Citation classification can misread nuance
Reproduce any AI-assisted extraction, analysis, or code yourself, and keep the script or table you used.
Watch out with Elicit: Structured tables and reports still require human validation
Export the bibliography from your reference manager and check it against the text: missing entries, duplicates, wrong years.
Compare the final declaration with your AI log. They should match.
Keep this table in the same folder as your draft. One row per use. It turns into your declaration at the end.
| Date | Tool (model/version) | What I asked (one line) | What I kept | Where in the thesis | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2026-10-14 | [tool, model] | [e.g. find reviews on X since 2020] | [3 papers, read in full] | [chapter 2.1] |
Fill in the brackets. If your institution has its own form or wording, use that instead and move these details into it.
Declaration on the use of AI tools In preparing this thesis I used the following AI tools: | Tool (model/version) | Purpose | Parts of the thesis | How I checked the output | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [tool, model] | [e.g. language editing] | [e.g. chapters 2–4] | [e.g. compared every suggestion with my own wording] | | [tool, model] | [e.g. literature search] | [e.g. chapter 2] | [e.g. opened and read every source I cite] | I did not use AI tools to [e.g. write, structure, or interpret the results of] this thesis. I checked all AI-assisted content myself and take full responsibility for the content of this thesis. [Place, date] [Signature]
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