[Staff] NSF and AI policy changes

[Chorover, Jon - (chorover)]

Dear Colleagues,

Recent changes to the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 24-1, Supplement 1 dated December 8, 2025, highlights the importance for researchers to disclose the extent of their use of generative AI in the Project Description of submitted proposals. Otherwise, the proposal may be flagged for Research Misconduct requiring investigation for plagiarism, falsification, or fabrication.

Proposers are responsible for the accuracy and authenticity of their proposal submission. NSF first discussed the use of generative AI in proposal preparation in December 2023, where proposers were "encouraged" to explain AI use: https://www.nsf.gov/news/notice-to-the-research-community-on-ai. Two years later NSF revised the PAPPG to include in the use of AI based tools in the definition of research misconduct: https://www.nsf.gov/policies/document/pappg24-1-supplement-1 (item 16).

NSF is actively forwarding allegations of misconduct (the university already has received two), which requires the university to implement the research misconduct policy. Researchers are strongly encouraged to implement NSF-compliant best practices regarding AI disclosure.

-----------------------------------
Jon Chorover
Associate Dean for Research
College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences (CALES)
Professor, Department of Environmental Science
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone:  (520) 626-5635
Email:  chorover at arizona.edu<mailto:chorover at arizona.edu>

I am on ancestral lands of the
Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui.


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