By Zorian Edwards, Editor-In-Chief
Daemen’s guidelines on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) are currently being reevaluated to better meet the needs of students and staff. A team of Daemen faculty, known as the AI Tiger Team, is working together to create a new Generative AI policy that fits these needs.
So far, each teacher has decided whether students can use GenAI for classwork or not, and that won’t change under the new policies being developed.
“Right now, we have little guidelines on use, but we need more,” Elizabeth Wright, associate vice president for academic relations and chair of the AI Tiger Team, said.
Daemen currently has guidelines on the use of Generative AI. While these guidelines are often referred to as an “AI policy,” they’re more of a stand-in until an official policy is established.
“Daemen University is committed to providing an atmosphere of academic excellence and scholarly distinction in an effort to prepare our community for meaningful, inclusive civic engagement,” Daemen’s current Generative AI guidelines state. “Through responsible and ethical use, Daemen believes that Generative AI Tools can help achieve this vision. Adherence to these principles will help ensure Daemen University continues to offer a forward-looking curriculum, preparing students for academic and professional excellence.”
The team aims to have all of the policies written and approved by the end of the Spring 2026 semester. This ensures the policies go through the proper committees and receive the approval needed to be implemented throughout Daemen, meaning all of the changes will be made before the Fall 2026 semester.
“There can be courses where AI is forbidden, but students have to be informed,” Wright said.
Wright had help when creating this group. Mark Warren, chair of the philosophy department, serves as associate chair of the AI Tiger Team.
“It’s essentially Daemen’s steering committee for all things AI: policy, faculty support, student-facing initiatives, privacy and long-term planning,” Warren said. “ It brings together representatives from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, IT, the Library, and several faculty across colleges… AI is becoming part of the cognitive infrastructure of contemporary work — a bit like spreadsheets or search engines in previous eras, except faster and much more general-purpose. I don’t treat it as magic or menace. It’s a tool that can extend reasoning, help people think more clearly, and support learning — if it’s used intentionally.”
The team, made up of staff from all across the Daemen campus, aims to create a policy that will help Daemen students, staff and faculty use AI in a way that is safe and academically honest.
“AI isn’t just a technology story — it’s a story about the future of learning, academic work, and the kinds of skills students will need after graduation,” Warren said.
