IB Mathematics Internal Assessment

Can you use AI tools for your Maths IA? Where the line sits.

Every year more students ask whether ChatGPT and similar tools are allowed in the IA. The honest answer is that it depends on what you ask the tool to do, what your school's policy says, and whether the finished work is genuinely yours. Here is how I think about it as a Coordinator.

Start with the principle, not the tool

The Internal Assessment is meant to be your own work. It is you showing what you can do with mathematics, and your teacher has to be able to authenticate that it is you. Anything that does your thinking for you, or that you present as yours when it is not, is on the wrong side of the line. Anything that helps you understand, check or learn, while the thinking and the writing stay yours, is a very different thing.

That means the question to ask is never "is this tool banned?" It is "if my teacher watched me do this, would the work still be mine?"

Two rules before anything else

• Your school's academic integrity policy applies. Schools set their own detailed rules inside the IB's framework, and some are stricter than others. Read yours. If it is unclear about AI, ask your teacher or Coordinator in writing before you use a tool, not after.
• The IB's own guidance is the final reference. It is updated from time to time, so I will not quote it here. Look at the current version your school gives you, and treat that, not a forum post or a classmate, as the authority.

Uses that are generally on the safe side

Where your school permits it, these keep the thinking with you. Even so, the safest habit is to tell your teacher what you used a tool for.

Uses that move you towards misconduct

Grey areas, and how to handle them

Plenty of real situations are not clear-cut. A few I am asked about most:

• Grammar and spelling checkers. Fixing a typo is not the same as rewriting your sentences. If a tool restructures your argument or supplies wording, you have crossed from correcting to composing.
• Asking for feedback on a draft. Asking what is unclear can be a useful read. Asking it to produce an improved version is writing by another route. Keep the changes in your own hand.
• Maths software and graphing tools. Calculators and graphing software have always been part of mathematics. Using them to compute and plot is normal. Passing off their output as understanding you do not have is the problem.
• Suggested methods. If a tool names a technique you had not heard of, you now own the job of learning it properly. If you cannot explain why it suits your data, leave it out.

Three questions to ask yourself

• Could I explain every line, unprompted? Your teacher may well ask you to talk through your work. If you could not do that for a section, it is not yet yours.
• Did the decision come from me? Topic, method, assumptions and conclusions should all trace back to your choices.
• Am I comfortable telling my teacher exactly what I did? If you would rather not say, treat that as your answer.

Why trying to hide it does not work well

Students sometimes assume the risk is detection software. It is more ordinary than that. Your teacher has seen your class work all year. They know how you write, how you set out a solution, and what mistakes you make. Work that suddenly sounds like somebody else, or contains mathematics you cannot discuss, stands out quickly, whatever tool was used. The consequences of a confirmed breach are serious, and a school's finding of misconduct is far worse than a mediocre mark.

The deeper point is that the IA is scored on thinking that only you can show. A generated draft tends to be smooth, general and safe, which is exactly how generic work scores. Your own awkward, specific, slightly surprised version will usually do better.

A sensible way to work

• Read your school's policy first, and ask if it is silent.
• Decide your topic and question yourself, away from any tool.
• Do your own mathematics on paper or in your own spreadsheet first.
• Keep a dated log of what you did and what you used, in plain words. It protects you and it feeds genuine reflection.
• Acknowledge any help or source in whatever way your school requires.
• Write every sentence of the final piece yourself.

More like this: all Maths IA guides. Related: using your own data in the Maths IA