Key points
- De Montfort University's pro vice-chancellor for artificial intelligence reports that some creative students, including whole cohorts, oppose generative AI to the point of refusing to discuss it.
- Fashion Textile Design at DMU now requires students to reference the AI tools they use and the prompts they write, making visible how much of the work is theirs.
- Resources on authorship, copyright, ethics, environment and privacy, with staff and student development, run institution-wide through the DMU AI Campus Collective; implementation is tailored programme by programme.
Summary
Writing in Times Higher Education Campus on 16 June 2026, Shushma Patel, pro vice-chancellor (artificial intelligence) and dean of the Faculty of Technology, Arts and Culture at De Montfort University, gives a first-hand account of how a UK institution is handling generative AI on creative programmes. Students heading for creative careers have "mixed feelings": "many have objections on ethical or environmental grounds", some "do not want to use AI because they do not want it to replace their jobs", and "some (including whole cohorts) are opposed to generative AI to the point that they do not even want to discuss it". The programme-level response she describes comes from Fashion Textile Design, whose programme leader treats AI as "just one tool in a broader creative toolbox" while redesigning assessment so that "students are now required to reference the tools they use and the prompts they write, making visible how much of the work is theirs and how much is generated", a rule aimed at "the homogenisation risk inherent in uncritical AI use". Institution-wide, "resources that cover authorship, copyright, ethical, environmental and privacy concerns have been developed, with CPD for students and staff, as part of the DMU AI Campus Collective", on the principle that "AI cannot be standardised across disciplines" and must be "tailored to each area".
Related items
- ArtCenter College of Design: Position and Policy on Generative AI
- Art, Design and AI Educator's Toolkit: values-led generative AI in design education
- Human-AI Co-Creation or Conflict? Art Students' Perspectives on Creative Identity
Source
Source: Times Higher Education Campus ↗ (Trade Press)
Cite this item
Shushma Patel (2026). ‘AI use tailored to creative-industry programmes requires institution-wide support (De Montfort University, Times Higher Education Campus)’, Times Higher Education Campus. Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/ai-use-tailored-creativeindustry-programmes-requires-institutionwide-support
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