AI and Authorship: Student Writing, Voice and Digital Communication Practices in Higher Education

Abstract

The increasing use of generative artificial intelligence in higher education is reshaping how students engage with writing, communication and authorship. While institutional responses have largely framed AI as a challenge to academic integrity, less attention has been paid to how AI operates within students’ broader digital communication practices. This paper questions of authorship, voice and responsibility in AI-assisted student writing, situating AI use within communicative environments shaped by everyday digital communication practices. Adopting a practice-informed conceptual approach, the analysis draws primarily on published research, with professional experience in UK higher education providing contextual grounding for the conceptual problem. Rather than treating authorship as a fixed or stable category, the paper conceptualises it as a negotiated and context-dependent process shaped by evolving technologies and shifting expectations of originality, voice and ownership. On this basis, the paper develops authorship literacy as a way of helping students recognise and account for their intellectual and expressive contribution within AI-mediated writing. By framing AI within the context of digital communication, the paper contributes to discussions on authorship, identity and meaning-making in contemporary educational environments. It argues that AI should be understood not solely as a tool or a threat, but as part of an evolving communicative landscape that is reshaping how writing, authorship and responsibility are experienced and negotiated.