Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform education, research, administration, and many other areas of society. To ensure that this transformation contributes to meaningful learning, high-quality research, and positive societal impact, clear principles for the responsible use of AI are essential.

Özyeğin University supports the responsible and ethical use of AI in education, research, community engagement, and administrative processes in accordance with the following principles:

1. Artificial intelligence must be used ethically, safely, and responsibly in compliance with international^1,2, national^3,4 and institutional regulations and principles.
2. In all uses of AI, compliance with Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK) and other applicable national and international data protection regulations must be ensured.
3. Platforms and tools that may violate the privacy of personal data should be avoided.
4. Confidential documents or information must not be uploaded under any circumstances to publicly accessible AI systems, including large language models (LLMs), small language models (SLMs), or AI-powered applications (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek), unless explicitly approved and
5. The use of AI tools should be appropriately disclosed, including the tool(s) used, their function(s), the stage(s) at which they were used, and the extent of their contribution.
6. Course instructors should clearly and comprehensively specify the guidelines they adopt for the use of AI in their course syllabi.
7. The use of AI in teaching, research, administration, and community engagement must comply with applicable legislation^5,6, ethical guidelines, and University policies.
8. Users remain fully responsible for their use of AI tools, the outputs generated, and any decisions or actions based on those outputs.
9. When using AI tools, users must adhere to principles of information security, data privacy, data minimization, ethics, accuracy, impartiality, and academic integrity.
10. Artificial intelligence tools must not be used for cyberbullying, peer bullying, or the creation of deepfakes under any circumstances.
11. AI tools may generate inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, biased, or discriminatory content. Accordingly, users are responsible for verifying the accuracy, completeness, reliability, and appropriateness of AI-generated outputs before using or sharing them.
12. The use of AI tools in educational, academic, and administrative processes at the University must strictly adhere to any limitations imposed by the relevant departments or authorized boards.
13. Records relating to the use of enterprise AI tools may be technically processed for system security, usage optimization, and cost analysis purposes. These records are stored in accordance with personal data security principles and are accessible only by authorized personnel.
14. Any incidents arising from the use of AI tools, including, but not limited to, the accidental uploading of corporate data, excessive information disclosure, insufficient data masking, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, or data theft that may create administrative, legal, or technical risks, must be reported to the Information Security Office (bilgiguvenligiofisi@ozyegin.edu.tr ) within 24 hours.

Course instructors have the freedom to choose one of the following options regarding the use of AI by students in their courses: (1) free use, provided that the aforementioned essential principles are adhered to; (2) use for clearly defined tasks, provided that the aforementioned essential principles are adhered to; (3) no use. Course instructors must clearly state their choice in their course syllabi and explicitly specify, in a way that is not open to interpretation, the circumstances under which students may or may not use artificial intelligence. Unless explicitly authorized in writing by the course instructor or the University, submitting AI-generated content as one's own work in any assessment activity (e.g., examinations, assignments, projects, reports, or presentations) constitutes a violation of the Özyeğin University Academic Integrity Rules and may result in disciplinary action.

All members of the Özyeğin University community are expected to use AI in accordance with this Policy, the Principles and Procedures for the Use of Artificial Intelligence, the Information Security Policy, Annex 1, and all applicable institutional, national, and international regulations and guidelines.

This Policy entered into force on 1 January 2025 and was last revised on 21 May 2026.

1 OECD AI Principles: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/ai-principles.html
1 EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): https://gdpr.eu
3 Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK): https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=6698&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
4 Cyber Security Law: https://mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=7545&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
5 Guideline on the Responsible and Reliable Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Research Funding Processes: https://tubitak.gov.tr/en/institutional/about-us/generative-artificial-intelligence-guideline
6 Ethics Guide of Generative Artificial Intelligence Use in the Scientific Research and Publication Process of Higher Education Institutions: https://proje.yok.gov.tr/documentFiles/17539645794.Y%C3%BCksek%C3%B6%C4%9Fretimde%20%C3%BCretken%20yapay%20zeka%20kullan%C4%B1m%C4%B1-en.pdf