AI Tools & Content  ·  Last Updated July 2026

zyBooks AI for CS courses: supporting student learning, not shortcuts

zyBooks AI tools and content are built on research into how instructors and students navigate artificial intelligence in higher education. This page covers zyBooks’ responsible AI integration approach, AI-powered tools for labs, assessments, and student hints, essential AI course content for CS programs, and expert content to support your teaching in an AI-driven world.

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How does zyBooks use AI?
zyBooks uses AI in four specific ways. Students working on zyLabs coding assignments can request AI-generated hints that ask questions and offer directional guidance. Instructors can generate a complete zyLab from a plain-language description, or generate multiple-choice assessment questions context-sensitive to the sections they’ve selected. And zyBooks offers dedicated AI literacy content — a full Artificial Intelligence zyBook launching September 2026, plus AI literacy chapters embedded across a range of existing CS titles. In all cases, the same principle applies: AI tools and content support learning and reduce friction for instructors.

AI Tools

AI tools for instructors and students:
generate labs, create assessments, and get coding hints

Three AI tools, each built around a specific problem instructors and students actually face.

For Instructors

Create programming labs with AI: from your idea to a deployable lab

Generate zyLab with AI interface showing a plain-language prompt being converted into a complete auto-graded zyLab

Describe what you want students to practice in plain language, and the tool produces a complete zyLab. Review, edit, and publish when you’re ready.

  • ✓Cuts lab authoring time significantly, especially for large sections
  • ✓Built to meet zyBooks’ best-in-class pedagogical standards
  • ✓Plain language input — no template or syntax required
  • ✓Test cases include edge conditions, generated automatically
  • ✓Nothing publishes to students without your approval
Learn more about zyLabs
For Instructors

Generate multiple-choice questions with AI: assessment questions in seconds

Generate multiple-choice questions with AI showing selected zyBook sections and AI-generated assessment questions

Select the relevant zyBook sections, describe what you want to assess, and the tool generates multiple-choice questions grounded in your actual course content — ready for section quizzes, midterms, or finals.

  • ✓Grounds questions in your actual zyBook content, keeping them aligned with what students are learning
  • ✓Context-sensitive — no need to describe your course content in the prompt
  • ✓Review every question before students see it
  • ✓Works for section quizzes, chapter tests, midterms, or finals spanning multiple chapters
  • ✓Scores sync to your LMS gradebook automatically via LTI 1.3
Learn more about Assessments
For Students

AI Hints: guided feedback on coding assignments, not answers

AI Hints in zyLabs showing a student receiving Socratic guidance on a recursive Fibonacci coding assignment

When a student is stuck on a zyLabs coding assignment, AI Hints responds to their specific code with questions and directional nudges — without giving them the answer. The goal is productive struggle: students who reason through the problem, not copy a solution.

  • ✓Responds to the student’s specific code, not a generic prompt
  • ✓Guides students towards reasoning through the problem themselves
  • ✓Students cannot write their own prompts or ask open-ended questions
  • ✓Off by default — you choose whether to enable hints per assignment
  • ✓No student PII is accessed or stored
Learn more about AI Hints

AI Learning Content

Teach AI in your course with a dedicated zyBook or embedded chapters

Whether you’re teaching a dedicated AI course or weaving AI concepts into an existing CS title, zyBooks has you covered.

New · Sept 2026

Artificial Intelligence zyBook for college CS courses

A complete zyBook dedicated to your AI course, launching September 2026. Students build from foundational concepts through to modern AI — including generative AI, LLMs, and ethics. Interactive animations, learning questions, and Python demos run throughout, while challenge activities and zyLabs build on and assess student knowledge.

Get on the waitlist
Existing Titles

AI literacy chapters embedded in select CS titles

For courses that aren’t dedicated to AI, zyBooks has embedded AI literacy chapters across Intro to Programming, Data Science, Mobile App Development, and Computer Science Principles titles. All designed for CS students without prior AI experience, using zyBooks’ standard interactive format.

Topics covered:

  • ✓Large language models
  • ✓Computer vision
  • ✓Natural language processing
  • ✓Deep learning
  • ✓Building AI applications
  • ✓Ethical use of AI
  • ✓Prompt engineering
  • ✓Machine learning fundamentals
Explore the catalog

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity tools built into zyBooks

zyBooks includes built-in tools to help you spot outlier behavior and investigate it — without disrupting the rest of your class.

Student Behavior Insights

Flags outlier students by time spent, pasted code volume, and submission count. Concerning patterns are highlighted automatically, so you can investigate without manually reviewing every submission.

Student Behavior Insights dashboard showing outlier students flagged by time spent, pasted code volume, and submission count

Code Playback

Replays a student’s submission history keystroke by keystroke, including large paste events. See exactly how a piece of code came together — and whether it arrived all at once.

Code Playback replaying a student submission keystroke by keystroke, including large paste events

Paste Limiting

You control which labs restrict pasting and set the character limit. This reduces the effectiveness of copying from external sources, including AI tools, without blocking students from working normally.

Paste Limiting settings showing instructor controls for restricting paste volume per lab assignment

Similarity Checker

Detects submissions with similar code across your class using MOSS, with results integrated directly into the zyLabs report. Spot shared solutions at a glance, then dig into the detail where needed.

Similarity Checker report showing MOSS-detected code similarity across student submissions integrated into the zyLabs report

Privacy & Security

How zyBooks protects student data when using AI

Student privacy isn’t an afterthought — it’s the starting constraint for every AI feature we build.

Zero PII access

No personally identifiable student information is transmitted to AI systems. Names, IDs, emails, and demographic data never leave the platform.

OpenAI Enterprise

All AI processing runs on OpenAI Enterprise, which contractually does not use customer data for model training.

FERPA-compliant design

zyBooks AI tools are designed to comply with FERPA and applicable student privacy laws, covered under existing institutional data processing agreements.

No training on student data

Student code, responses, and AI interactions are not stored or used to train AI models — by zyBooks or OpenAI Enterprise.

Instructor control

AI Hints are off by default. You decide whether to enable them per assignment, giving you full control over where AI assistance is available.

Transparent data handling

zyBooks publishes clear documentation on what data AI features access and how it’s processed — available to instructors and institutions on request.

FAQ

Questions faculty ask about AI in zyBooks

These are the questions we hear most from instructors — covering grading, academic integrity, privacy, and how each tool works in practice.

Grading & AI

Does zyBooks use AI to grade student code?+
No. zyLabs grades student code using deterministic test cases. Submissions are checked against expected outputs — the same way automated tests work in professional software development. AI is involved in creating those test cases through Generate zyLabs with AI, but plays no role in evaluating student work. Grades are consistent and reproducible.

AI Hints

How is AI Hints different from just giving students the answer?+
AI Hints asks questions and offers directional nudges — it doesn’t write code or complete assignments. Think of it like a TA in office hours: “What do you think happens when n equals zero?” The system guides students back to their own reasoning. You decide whether hints are available for a given assignment.
Can I enable AI Hints across my entire zyBook?+
At this time, AI Hints is exclusive to zyLabs and is controlled at the individual lab level. This gives you granular control over which assignments offer hints, based on instructor feedback about wanting flexibility rather than a blanket setting.
Can students write their own prompts to interact with AI?+
No. Students receive AI-generated hints but cannot write their own prompts or ask open-ended questions. The AI responds to the student’s code in a guided, Socratic way — it’s not a general-purpose AI assistant.
Can students use external AI tools while completing zyBooks assignments?+
This is at the discretion of the instructor. zyBooks gives students a supported in-platform option when they’re stuck through AI Hints. Instructors can also configure assignment settings and access zyBooks’ academic integrity resources to set and communicate their own expectations.

Generate zyLabs with AI

How does Generate zyLabs with AI work in practice?+
Describe the assignment in plain language and the tool generates a complete zyLab for you to review. The output includes a problem prompt, starter code scaffold, auto-graded test cases covering edge cases, and a grading rubric. You review and edit everything before it goes live. Nothing publishes to students without your approval.
Can Generate zyLabs with AI create group projects?+
Yes. zyLabs supports group projects. You can prompt the tool to create tasks assigned to individual group members within a shared project, structured the same way as individual labs.
Who do I contact if I have problems creating a lab with AI?+
Email support@zybooks.com. The support team will help directly for straightforward issues. For anything more complex, they quickly route your question to a subject matter expert.

Multiple-Choice Question Generator

Can I use the Multiple-Choice Question Generator for midterms and finals, or just section quizzes?+
You can use it for both. The Multiple-Choice Question Generator works at any scope — from section quizzes to finals spanning multiple chapters. You can create assessment sections within existing chapters, or use Configure zyBook mode to add a dedicated chapter for a midterm or final.
Does the Multiple-Choice Question Generator need me to describe the course content in my prompt?+
No. The tool is context-sensitive. Select the relevant sections first, then describe what you want to assess. Questions are based on your actual zyBook content, so they stay aligned with what students are learning — without any extra work on your part.
Can AI-generated multiple-choice questions be exported to my LMS?+
Not at this time. AI-generated MCQs live within zyBooks Assessments and are not currently exportable to external LMS platforms. Assessments do support LTI 1.3 grade passback, so scores sync to your LMS gradebook automatically once students complete work inside zyBooks. If LMS export is important to your workflow, let your zyBooks representative know.
Can assessments launch from my LMS?+
Yes. zyBooks Assessments work with LTI 1.3, supporting both grade passback and assessment launch directly from Canvas, Blackboard, and other major LMS platforms. Students can begin an assessment from your LMS or from inside the zyBook. Contact support or your zyBooks representative for help with LMS configuration.

Privacy

How does zyBooks protect student data when using AI tools?+
Student privacy is the starting constraint for every AI feature zyBooks builds. No personally identifiable student information is transmitted to AI systems. Names, student IDs, email addresses, and demographic data never leave the platform. All processing runs on OpenAI Enterprise, which contractually does not use customer data for model training. Student interactions are covered under zyBooks’ existing institutional data processing agreements, and the tools are designed to comply with FERPA and applicable student privacy laws.

AI Learning Content

Does zyBooks have learning content for AI courses?+
Yes. A new Artificial Intelligence zyBook launches in September 2026. It covers foundational concepts through to modern applications, including generative AI and LLMs. You can request an evaluation copy now and we’ll send it to you when it becomes available.
Does zyBooks have AI content for courses that aren’t specifically about AI?+
Yes. AI literacy chapters are embedded across a range of CS titles, including Intro to Programming, Data Science, Mobile App Development, and Computer Science Principles. Topics include large language models, computer vision, natural language processing, deep learning, prompt engineering, and ethical AI use — all designed for CS students without prior AI experience, using zyBooks’ standard interactive format.

For active course subscriptions, the content appears when you next update — typically at the start of a new semester. Contact your zyBooks representative if you’re unsure whether your title has been updated.

Request a demo of zyBooks AI and academic integrity tools for CS courses

Request a demo to see all three AI tools live, or evaluate any zyBook on your own — first chapter free, no commitment required.

Request a demo Try a chapter for free