Abstract

University students are increasingly utilizing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education for various purposes, including generating writing tasks and translating texts. However, many academic integrity statements or student codes of conduct do not include GenAI. This article investigates the university policies towards GenAI and academic integrity in higher education institutions (HEIs) by analyzing 22 academic integrity documents and 22 GenAI statements from 12 major American universities and 10 English-medium universities in Japan. The policies of individual universities regarding GenAI were analyzed for five core elements: access, approach, responsibility, detail, and support. This research revealed several significant findings. Firstly, access to GenAI guidelines and statements is constantly changing. It is primarily presented through ad hoc documents, as they have not yet been incorporated into the overall academic integrity statements. Secondly, the primary focus of approaches to using GenAI is often to group it with plagiarism and cheating. Thirdly, the responsibility for the ethical use of GenAI is often solely placed on students. Fourthly, while details on the unethical use of GenAI are relatively straightforward, information on the ethical use of GenAI is lacking. Finally, more support is given to teachers for GenAI usage than to students. Implications for a more comprehensive and inclusive approach towards GenAI in future university academic integrity policies will be explored.