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Bioethics paper argues right to refuse AI chatbots on campus

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TL;DR

  • Timothy Daly argues no university or instructor should coerce students, researchers or teachers into using AI chatbots for academic tasks.
  • The paper grounds the refusal right in Thomas Douglas's 'right against mental interference' and a broader right to moral freedom.
  • Daly calls on developers to build less-interfering, morally-improved chatbots and on universities to protect those who opt out.

A new paper in AI and Ethics argues that "no person or institution should coerce a student, researcher or instructor to use AI chatbots to complete academic tasks," and grounds the claim in two rights the author says already sit inside moral philosophy.

The author, Timothy Daly, is listed with the Bioethics Program at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales in Buenos Aires and with CNRS UMR 8011 (Science Norms Democracy) at Sorbonne University. The article appeared on 26 June 2026. Two experts in our Who's Who directory have shared the paper.

Daly builds the case on two claims. First, that AI chatbots in their current form meet conditions that infringe what Thomas Douglas calls the "right against mental interference." Second, that current LLM use "leads to significant tensions with moral beliefs (about property, politics, the environment, aesthetics, and agency)," which he says makes it immoral to force people to contradict those beliefs by using them.

The abstract closes with duties on both sides: developers should build "less-interfering and morally-improved chatbots," and universities should shield people from being obliged to use products they consider "incompatible with their mental and moral integrity."

Shared on Bluesky by 2 AI experts

Originally reported by link.springer.com

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Original headline: Grounding the right to refuse AI chatbot use in higher education - AI and Ethics