CCR TT Week 3 2026 Motions

Opposition to Unethical Uses of AI

This motion mandates the Sabbatical Officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee to require all of its AI vendors to have a policy that forbids military and surveillance use of its products. 

Proposal  

This motion mandates the Sabbatical Officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee to require all of its AI vendors to have a policy that forbids military and surveillance use of its products. 

Which of the following aims does your motion or proposal hope to achieve?  

  • Provide the views of students and a position deemed to be representative of wider students at the University of Oxford 

Conference Notes:  

  • In Michaelmas 2025, the University of Oxford becomes the first UK university to offer ChatGPT from OpenAI to all staff and students after a year-long pilot. The University also provides Copilot Chat through Microsoft’s Nexus365, and Gemini through the University’s Google workspace. 

  • AI has been widely adopted for military use for both autonomous weapon systems and decision support systems in recent years, with deployment observed across a range of contemporary conflicts. These developments have had significant global consequences, including impacts felt within the Oxford community.  

  • The AI research community has issued strong objections to AI’s use for mass surveillance and in autonomous weapons, especially without any current international law concerning the use of AI in warfare.   

Conference Believes:  

  • AI’s extensive potential for military use makes it crucial that the University of Oxford requires ethical and responsible use of AI from its AI vendors.  

  • The University of Oxford has an obligation to ensure that its AI vendors have a clear “no use for military and surveillance policy” such as the one OpenAI had prior to January 2024 or the one Google had before February 2025. 

Conference Resolves:  

  • Mandate the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee to require all of its AI vendors to have a policy that forbids military and surveillance use of its products.  

  • Mandate the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee to audit its current AI vendors and replace those that do not meet the requirements.   

  • In the case that there isn’t an alternative for a particular use, mandate the sabbatical officers to advocate at the University Council and any relevant committee for the University to decide whether the use is necessary for academic research, and if so, to conduct a periodic review of alternatives. 

Equality Impact Assessment: 

  • Stated as neutral/no impact for all listed demographics