Philosopher advocates for the right to refuse AI chatbots in higher education, and that aligns with how we are building EduGPT

Philosopher Timothy Daly has published an article in the scientific journal AI and Ethics with a clear position. No student, researcher or lecturer should be forced to use AI chatbots for academic work. His concern is that the widespread and uncritical introduction of chatbots will gradually become an expectation, and then almost an obligation, for example in the name of efficiency.

Daly supports this with two arguments. In their current form, chatbots, he argues, touch on what philosopher Thomas Douglas calls the "right against mental interference". Moreover, the use of language models often clashes with people’s moral beliefs, concerning ownership, politics, the environment or personal autonomy, meaning that compulsory use can put people at odds with their own values. His conclusion is that developers should build less intrusive and more morally considered chatbots, and that universities should protect people from being obliged to use a tool that conflicts with their mental and moral integrity.

That is precisely the principle with which we set up EduGPT. No compulsory use, no chatbot quietly inserted everywhere, but a tool that teachers and students themselves learn to understand, assess, and, where necessary, ignore. A philosophically grounded plea for freedom of choice regarding AI in education confirms why this approach remains necessary, especially now that the pressure to deploy AI everywhere is increasing.

Would you like to read the full article? You can do so here.
Daly, T. (2026). Grounding the right to refuse AI chatbot use in higher education. AI and Ethics.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-026-01233-w

Photo: Tungsten, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons