This study investigated the effect of students’ use of AI in research through the lenses of Practical Research (PR) teachers. The Senior High School curriculum has PR1 (Qualitative Research) and PR2 (Quantitative Research), where students are expected to conduct, write, and eventually defend their research. Through an interview, the participants shared how plagiarism and academic honesty are taught in their respective research classes.  They also discussed how the responsible use of AI, and technology in general, in research, is emphasized. The pros and cons of students’ use of AI in writing research and the challenges that come with its emergence were also identified. It was found that the most commonly used AI by students are those that help them paraphrase ideas they want to cite in their papers, as students find it difficult to contextualize their ideas in writing. On the use of AI-writing assistants, it was observed that the PR teachers had mixed sentiments on its utilization in research. However, all of them were aware of both the beneficial and detrimental effects that it may put forth. As such, they also shared the positive and negative implications of such usage and how they determine whether student submissions were AI-written. Although no student admitted using AI to write their paper, the PR teachers were very honest in saying that they find it difficult to verify whether AI writes the submissions they are getting. In response to the findings, policy recommendations were offered to serve as a guide or basis for the teaching of the responsible utilization of AI in schools.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, AI-Utilization, Research, Practical Research, Senior High School, Plagiarism, Academic Honesty.

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