Artificial Intelligence (AI)

As a student, there are many ways generative AI tools can help throughout the research process. Before exploring any of the suggestions below, it is important to first to check with your professor and/or class syllabus for policies on the use of AI.   

• Brainstorming: AI tools can help jump-start your work and get started on an assignment. This could include suggestions for narrowing a research paper topic, learning about different points of view on a specific issue, or drafting an outline for a project.
   
• Generate Keywords: Once you have a research topic, AI can suggest additional search terms, phrases, or strategies to use in library databases.
   
• Summarizing: If you are working to understand complex concepts or scholarly literature, many AI tools can produce summaries, list the main concepts, and simplify language for research articles and other academic works. 
   
• Expand Your Search: Discover new materials in unique ways using Talpa Search, an experimental library AI tool. Search by cover elements, plot descriptions, awards won, release date, genres, and more. 

As with many technologies, AI tools have several limitations to keep in mind as a user. 

• Hallucinations: AI tools are prone to "hallucinations", output that is false, misleading, or made up. One common problem related to research is chatbots such as ChatGPT inventing fake sources when asked to create a list of citations or cite its sources for generated content. 
   
• Reproducibility: Content produced by AI is unable to be reliably reproduced, meaning multiple people using the same prompt would receive different results and/or responses. 
   
• Scope and Bias: AI tools are a reflection of the data they have been trained on, meaning generated information may be out of date and include the biases of its training materials. For example, ChatGPT discloses that is is not connected to the internet and has limited knowledge of events occurring after 2021. 
   
• Copyright: Many of the datasets and materials used to train generative AI tools include copyrighted content used without permission or compensation for the original creator. Additionally, works wholly generated by AI do not currently qualify for copyright protection.