This is a statement from your Officer Team, regarding the proposed changes to Turnitin's End-User License Agreement (EULA).

We condemn the proposed changes to Turnitin’s End-User License Agreement (EULA) that would see student submissions being used to train AI models. 

Turnitin is a widely used piece of text-matching software that universities use to check student submissions against existing sources to protect academic integrity. All institutions that use the software would have to accept these new terms to continue doing so, including Warwick.

The rapid development of AI has contributed to the hollowing out of the graduate jobs market. Using student submissions to train the models putting them out of a career in the industry they want is fundamentally wrong, and disrespectful to the amount of hard work and effort required to earn a degree. This does not even scratch the surface of the various other moral and ethical objections held by students.

While the proposed changes have been postponed until September 2027 at the earliest, Turnitin remains committed to implementing them. As a result, we have reached out to senior University staff, including the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education, regarding how student intellectual property and academic integrity will be protected, and to call on the University to move away from Turnitin. We also appreciate the work of Warwick UCU in representing the specific concerns of PGR students and members of staff.

This is fundamentally a question of ownership; students should remain entirely in control of how and where their work is being used, and consent for its use must be obtained freely and fairly. Accepting the changes to the EULA would mean requiring students to submit their work to train AI models as a condition of study at Warwick, which we believe is entirely unacceptable.

Every student at Warwick should be aware that if Turnitin does not change course or if the University does not move away from the software, your work could be used to train AI models in the future. We will continue to lobby the University and update you on this issue, and we urge you to get in touch with your departments and make your opposition to this proposal known.