School Info, Enrollment & Policies

AI tools are now part of how many musicians, producers, and creative professionals work. At Berklee Online, students may use AI to support learning, explore ideas, and experiment creatively. AI may not be used to misrepresent authorship, replace skill development, or bypass what an assignment is designed to teach.

This policy sets the baseline for all Berklee Online courses. Instructors may add further requirements or restrictions for their courses. Students are responsible for following both.

At the heart of this policy: if AI use reduces or replaces the need to think, listen, create, or demonstrate understanding, it is likely inappropriate.

Quick Reference

AI use is generally appropriate when you:

• Use it to explore ideas, get feedback, or experiment with creative possibilities
• Remain the decision-maker: you direct, evaluate, and meaningfully transform the output
• Disclose your use and cite AI contributions as required by your instructor
• Can explain what you made, what choices you made, and why

AI use is generally not appropriate when you:

• Submit AI-generated work as your own without authorization
• Use AI to complete work that is meant to build your own skills
• Use AI on assessments designed to measure your independent performance
• Share others' personal data, classmates' work, or restricted materials with AI tools

Important: These are the core rules. Your instructor may allow more, or restrict further. Always check your course syllabus. Misuse may result in consequences up to and including course failure, suspension, or dismissal.

Core Principles

Academic Integrity and Creative Authorship

Students must ensure that all submitted work reflects their own understanding, judgment, and creative voice. This includes written work, compositions, productions, performances, sound design, arrangements, coding, analysis, and other creative or technical outputs.

Submitting AI-generated work as your own, without instructor authorization and without demonstrating your own judgment and decision-making, constitutes academic dishonesty.

AI may assist creative exploration, but it cannot substitute for the student's role as the creator, decision maker, and learner.

Authorized and Appropriate Use

AI may only be used for purposes permitted by this policy or the instructor and appropriate to the assignment's learning goals. Unless explicitly allowed, AI use is not permitted in assessments intended to measure what you know, what you can do independently, or your mastery of course learning objectives.

Using AI to fully generate music, lyrics, arrangements, code, analyses, or written work that replaces skills students are expected to personally practice is considered disingenuous use unless specifically authorized.

Transparency and Citation

When AI use is permitted, students must disclose that use when required and cite AI-generated contributions using the citation style designated in the course.

Transparency allows instructors to evaluate both process and learning, which are central to creative education.

Responsibility for Accuracy and Musical Judgment

AI systems may produce sub-par work and inaccurate information. Examples may include: weak musical ideas, stylistic clichés, unusable code, or fabricated references. Students are responsible for verifying factual claims and exercising musical and technical judgment over any AI-assisted material.

AI output does not replace critical listening, artistic decision-making, or technical understanding.

Human Direction and Creative Control

Students must meaningfully direct, evaluate, and transform AI-assisted work. The final submission must demonstrate the student's authorship, taste, technique, and understanding.

Students should be able to explain:

• How the work was created
• What decisions they made
• Why those decisions serve the artistic or learning goals

Data Privacy and Safety

Students must not share personal, confidential, proprietary, or restricted materials with AI tools, including:

• Personal data about others in the class
• Classmates' work
• Berklee Online course materials, including instructor-created content, curriculum, and other Berklee intellectual property
• Copyrighted or licensed content when prohibited

Students are responsible for understanding how AI platforms store and use submitted material, and may wish to refrain from sharing data and sensitive information about themselves. Submitting Berklee course materials or instructor-created content to non-Berklee AI tools is not permitted, as this content remains the intellectual property of Berklee Online.

No Disingenuous Use or Bypassing Learning

AI must not be used to bypass intended learning outcomes. If an assignment is designed to develop a student's ability to compose, produce, perform, write, analyze, code, design sound, or think critically, using AI to perform that core creative or intellectual work is inappropriate unless explicitly permitted.

AI should expand creative possibilities, not replace development as an artist or professional.

Instructor Authority

Instructors may allow, limit, or prohibit AI use depending on course goals. Instructor guidance always applies in addition to this policy; refer to your course syllabus requirements for more details on your specific course guidelines.

Consequences of Misuse

Improper AI use may be treated as a violation of academic integrity policies and may result in consequences including reduced grades, assignment failure, course failure, suspension, or dismissal from the college.