Teaching Students to Navigate Intellectual Property Ethics in AI-Assisted Development
As AI tools become essential in software development, computer science students face complex intellectual property (IP) challenges without adequate educational preparation. The rapid adoption of such tools creates a need for students to be aware of their ethical consequences. The lack of comprehensive curriculum resources that describe the complexity of handling intellectual property concerns with AI leaves students vulnerable to copyright infringement and professional misconduct.
This work presents a comprehensive ethics curriculum module that integrates intellectual property education into CS1 and CS2 courses with all materials provided. Our module combines legal foundations with contemporary AI challenges through interactive case studies of real-world legal dilemmas. The module employs active learning strategies with stakeholder analysis, fair use evaluation exercises, and scenario-based decision-making that simulates professional contexts, challenging students to identify legal and ethical factors in their practices.
The module includes pre-lecture, lecture, and post-lecture assignments with scripts for the presenter and handouts for students’ activities. An assessment framework for the measurement of student learning outcomes follows this material. This module prepares students to identify intellectual property requirements in rapidly evolving technological landscapes.