Using AI in open textbooks
Authors can use AI in a variety of ways, including for:
- brainstorming and generating ideas
- searching for literature
- structuring your content
- generating code or visualisations
- obtaining feedback on drafts.
As an author, you need to understand the copyright and licensing implications of such content, verify the accuracy and legitimacy of any AI-generated information, and disclose any use of AI.
Licensing and copyright
There are several important considerations you should be aware of when using AI tools to create and license your content.
In Australia, copyright is designed to protect the works of human authors and does not protect works solely created by AI tools. To ensure copyright protection applies, you should be significantly involved in the creation process and be able to document your contribution. Works created with minimal human input are not protected and will need to be attributed. You may assign a CCO deed to indicate such material is in the public domain.
Generative AI systems are trained on a vast corpus of existing works and may reproduce content protected by copyright. When using AI tools, you must manage the risk of inadvertently committing plagiarism by carefully verifying the outputs before publication.
Disclosure
AI use should be disclosed in Open Textbooks @ UQ projects. The disclosure provides greater transparency about AI use.
Disclosures sometimes include:
- the AI tool
- Information on how you used the tool
- the part, section, or page (if relevant).
In an open textbook, disclosure may occur at the object, chapter, or book level. For instance, if you used AI to help prepare a visualisation, the disclosure may be included as part of the attribution statement. Any direct use of AI-generated content should also be referenced. Visit our guide to acknowledging and referencing AI use.
Book-level disclosure
AI [specific tool] was used to assist in the creation of this open textbook, including:
- draft structuring
- literature analysis and summarisation
- creation of images, diagrams, video and active learning components
- editing the final document.
All generated content was independently verified.
Chapter-level disclosure
This chapter was prepared with assistance from Copilot and ChatGPT. It was used to support for writing and editing, including clarity, structure, and for referencing. All ideas and interpretations are the author’s. AI tools were not used to generate or analyse data or replace academic judgement.
Item-level disclosure
The following attribution statement could include acknowledgment information. Check your chosen style guide to see how you should acknowledge AI use. You may wish to include your own statement:
Diagram of workflow created using Claude Opus 4.7, CC0
Fig 1. “Create a cartoon-style image of a group of librarians sitting around a desk in a meeting” prompt, Chat-GPT, model GPT-5o, OpenAI, 4 Feb. 2026, chatgpt.com/share/33k5h8p2-7g24-5401-3167-83j59i2a7122.
Visit the AI disclosure template for more ideas.
Controlling how your work is used
Open textbooks published by The University of Queensland have a Creative Commons licence, allowing others to copy and upload your work into an AI tool. Depending on which licence, there may still be restrictions on the use of any output (e.g. some CC licences restrict use of material for commercial purposes or derivative works).
You can change your book’s settings to Discourage AI from ingesting your book. To do this:
- Select admin
- Choose Settings > Sharing & Privacy
