NYU Tandon School of Engineering released Protecting Learning on November 12, 2026, offering an adaptable framework for classroom generative AI rules. The resource is open for public comment during November, with a first revision planned for January 2027.
The publication addresses how instructors can preserve independent learning while deciding where AI assistance belongs. NYU’s repository records the release as version 1. The school’s guide page explicitly says the document does not constitute official NYU Tandon policy.
What the Protecting Learning framework contains
The guide organizes assignment rules into three settings: Red prohibits AI, Yellow permits limited assistance, and Green integrates AI use into the work being assessed. Instructors can establish a course baseline and change the setting for particular assignments. A single course can therefore use several settings, with the reasoning tied to its learning objectives.
Its policy customization menu goes beyond the color labels. It separates permitted functions, prohibited functions, disclosure, process records and verification. Among its options are identifying the tool used, explaining its contribution, retaining drafts or code histories, and demonstrating the ability to explain submitted work. These are choices for adaptation, rather than requirements automatically imposed on every course.
Where independent competence matters, the authors recommend checks completed without AI, including oral questions, supervised quizzes or classroom exams. Disclosure of assistance remains useful, but the guide does not treat disclosure alone as evidence that a student has mastered the material.
How students and integrity processes fit
The framework also provides templates for student participation in course policy. Instructors begin with a proposed policy, explain fixed conditions and invite discussion or a vote on decisions that remain open. The instructor retains the final decision. The guide describes preliminary classroom pilots and presents deliberation as part of developing a policy that participants understand.
For suspected misuse, its academic-integrity section recommends opening an inquiry and speaking with the student before reaching a finding. It calls for multiple forms of evidence and says an AI-detector score alone cannot establish a violation. That distinction connects the release to the practical questions surrounding how AI detection works, while keeping assessment of learning separate from a misconduct decision.
What the release means for universities and research offices
The institutional significance is the division of responsibilities: common language and a consistent inquiry process can sit alongside course-specific decisions about learning. For researchers who teach and research offices involved in training, the document offers a concrete contribution to university AI integrity policy discussions.
Its menu also includes restrictions on uploading confidential, personal, proprietary or unpublished research materials without authorization. The implication for research training is that permission to use AI for an assignment does not itself resolve permission to share the underlying material with a tool.
The release sits within Tandon’s AI Across the Curriculum initiative, led by Julia Stoyanovich. Departmental assessments fed into working groups on policy, student use and teaching resources. The publication now makes the policy group’s work available for other institutions to adapt.
| Element | Position at release |
|---|---|
| Published resource | Version 1 is available for adaptation; it is not official NYU Tandon policy. |
| Course decisions | Instructors select assignment rules and shape open decisions with students. |
| Next revision | November feedback will inform a planned January 2027 revision. |
According to NYU’s November 12 announcement, Tandon also plans to publish a summary of comments and resulting changes. Those steps remain planned; the current development is the release of the framework and the opening of its comment period.
Sources
- NYU Tandon: strategy and playbook announcement, November 12, 2026. Checked 2026-11-15.
- NYU Tandon: AI-Use Policy Guide. Checked 2026-11-15.
- NYU UltraViolet: Protecting Learning, version 1, November 12, 2026; accompanying report, especially pages 4, 6, 15–16 and section 4.3. Checked 2026-11-15.
- NYU Tandon: AI Across the Curriculum. Checked 2026-11-15.
