Zea Miller, Kashish Sachdeva, and Jake Walker

When universities create AI policies, they often conceptualize AI as something, such as a tool or a resource. This study questions whether such policies are affected by how they envision AI. In other words, is the permissible a function of conceptualization? To answer, R1 university policies were rated independently by three raters on two axes: conceptualization and permissibility. When visualized, the ratings clearly show that while AI qua TOOL does not inherently attach either to the restrive or permissive, AI qua RESOURCE does not attach to the restrictive. Ultimately, this study shows that universities are unlikely at this time to conceptualize AI as a resource and simultaneously ban it.