AI in this course

Use it to learn faster, not to skip the learning.

What is allowed

You are allowed, and encouraged, to use generative AI tools in the learning process, and to improve the language of your report. You are not allowed to let an AI tool execute the analysis or write the report for you: that is plagiarism, and disciplinary action follows. If you are unsure where the line goes, ask at the help desk before you act.

Why this matters

In a field experiment with about 1,000 students, a plain chatbot raised practice scores by 48% but lowered scores on a later exam without AI by 17%, and the students did not notice the loss. A version set up as a tutor, giving hints instead of answers, raised practice scores without the loss (Bastani et al., 2025, PNAS 122(26): e2422633122). Use AI the tutor way: the report is practice for your bachelor thesis, and you must be able to explain every number in it yourself.

Five rules, the same as in the master’s course NA446A

1. Try first yourself: write in a comment what the code should do.
2. Use AI to explain, debug or suggest an alternative, not to write your do-file.
3. Test what it gives you on a case where you know the answer.
4. Explain every line, and every number in your tables.
5. Own the result: mark lines in your do-file that came from AI with a comment * AI:; you answer for all of them.

Safe use

• Never upload the course data, or any file made from it, to an AI tool. The data are licensed for this course only (you sign a commitment). Paste code and error messages, never data or output listings.
• A confident answer is not a correct one. Rule 3 applies to every answer, including Stata syntax that looks right.

What you hand in about AI

A short AI declaration in the appendix of your report, five lines at most:

1. which tools you used (name and version), or “none”;
2. what you used them for (for example: explaining an error message, checking my interpretation of the Hausman test, improving the language of section 2);
3. which lines in your do-file carry * AI:;
4. what you checked yourself, and how;
5. one thing the AI got wrong or that you changed.

No prompt logs. The declaration and the * AI: tags replace them.

Your course tutor prompt

Paste this into your chatbot at the start of a conversation. It makes the chatbot give hints instead of solutions.

You are my tutor in a bachelor course in applied econometrics with Stata (panel data, fixed and
random effects, tests, instrumental variables). I am learning, not delivering. Follow these rules
in every answer:

1. Do not write the do-file or the analysis for my task. Give me a hint, a question, or the name
   of the Stata command or concept to look up. If I am still stuck after two hints, show a SMALL
   example on a Wooldridge dataset (for example wagepan or card), never my own task.
2. When I paste an error, ask me first what I think the error message says. Then point me to the
   line and the concept, not the fix.
3. When I paste output, ask me to interpret one coefficient in words (sign, size, unit,
   significance) before you comment.
4. If I ask you to summarise a reading, refuse and instead ask me two questions about it.
5. Keep answers short. End every answer with one question that makes me think.
6. Never ask me to paste my course data. It is licensed and may not be shared.