The state of AI adoption at Adelaide University

Adelaide's Academic Integrity Policy, approved 28 May 2024 and revised 1 January 2025, defines 'inappropriate use of artificial intelligence' to include submitting AI-generated work as one's own; using AI-generated information without acknowledgement; using AI to misrepresent the student's level of competence; and using digital tools to disguise plagiarism, collusion or contract cheating.^[1]

Unlike Sydney's two-lane model, UNSW's seven-level scale, or UWA's three tiers, Adelaide does not publish an institution-wide tiered AI assessment framework. The student-facing position is course-coordinator-discretionary: 'Depending on your year level, discipline and course, the guidelines about how you can use AI may vary.' Students are directed to ask their course coordinator and to acknowledge AI use where permitted.^[2]

On AI detection, Adelaide acknowledged the Turnitin AI writing detection rollout in April 2023 but has not made a public re-affirmation since; the institution's current operational stance on whether the detector remains active is not explicitly stated in public sources.^[3]

The merger has produced a structural shift in how AI sits in the curriculum: in the new Adelaide University, AI is embedded as a Common Core knowledge area required for all undergraduates, alongside Ethics, Entrepreneurship and Aboriginal Knowledges. PVC (Learning and Teaching) Professor Katrina Falkner, Curriculum Domain Lead, has framed the intent: 'We're very interested in using AI to help support our colleagues in preparing for new courses... it is about taking the data and AI to make it part of the partnership between educators and students.'^[4]

Bloom is a closed-system AI: prompts and student responses are not used to train base models, matching the same data-handling stance Adelaide endorses for Studiosity Writing Feedback Plus. Bloom runs on Microsoft Azure OpenAI under enterprise data handling.^[5]

Bloom can be deployed at Adelaide in a day, with course-specific material ingestion and coordinator-controlled student access. No new procurement, no new vendor security review, and no engineering integration is required.

Adelaide's institutionally endorsed GenAI service for students is Studiosity Writing Feedback Plus (WF+). No public source confirms a Microsoft 365 Copilot enterprise tenant rollout, an institutional ChatGPT licence, or an in-house AI tutor at the institution.

Adelaide's AI research is anchored by the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), founded in 2018 at Lot Fourteen and now an entity of Adelaide University post-merger. AIML is the largest university-based machine learning research group in Australia. Director: Professor Simon Lucey (joined October 2020). Chief Scientist and Founding Director: Professor Anton van den Hengel.^[7]

Significant AI centres operating under or alongside AIML include the Centre for Augmented Reasoning (A$20M, four-year initiative launched 2021, federally funded), the Responsible AI Research (RAIR) Centre (launched December 2024 in partnership with CSIRO Data61, A$20M from Adelaide, CSIRO and the South Australian Government), and the CommBank Centre for Foundational AI Research (September 2024, A$6M five-year partnership).^[7]

On infrastructure, Adelaide University signed a partnership with Cisco on 18 March 2026 covering a Cisco Research Chair in AI Cybersecurity, a sovereign AI Cloud initiative, a Cisco Cyber Range, and PhD and Masters scholarships. VC Professor Nicola Phillips, who took office on 12 January 2026, called the partnership 'truly exciting' and the build of 'the strong relationship our teams have built with Cisco over many years of collaboration.'^[8]

Professor Anton van den Hengel, in 2024 testimony on AI's global impact, framed the AIML position bluntly: 'AI is the technology of our time... it's already having a huge impact on the productivity of other nations.' On the responsibility framing, he likened 'how do you define responsible AI?' to 'how do you define responsible electricity?'^[9]