Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the release of ChatGPT. That generative language model based chatbot helped to fuel a renewed interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and its capabilities propelling it into the cultural zeitgeist.
In the wake of ChatGPT and a tidal wave of other AI-based products, academic libraries, Trefry Library included, are working hard to learn how to best utilize AI in the library and inform library patrons on best practices for navigating this brave new AI world.
What is AI?
AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think, learn, and problem-solve like humans. It encompasses a broad range of technologies and techniques, allowing computers and software to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, making decisions, and adapting to changing circumstances. (IBM, 2023)
The origins of AI can be traced back to the 1940s and 1950s when pioneers like Alan Turing and John von Neumann laid the theoretical groundwork. Turing proposed the concept of a "universal machine" capable of simulating any other machine's behavior, while von Neumann's work on self-replicating automata contributed to the understanding of computation. The term "Artificial Intelligence" was coined at the Dartmouth Workshop in 1956, organized by John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon marking the birth of AI as a field of research. (McCarthy, 2007; Anyoha, 2017)
Despite early enthusiasm, progress in the AI field remained stagnated until the 1980s saw a resurgence in AI research with a focus on expert systems, which aimed to capture human expertise in specific domains. The 1990s into the early 2000s saw advances in machine learning algorithms, such as neural networks and decision trees leading to revitalized AI research. Practical applications began to be seen in your everyday lives from spam email filters, image recognition software, natural language processing, and autonomous driving became possible due to deep learning. (Anyoha, 2017)
Today, AI has been integrated into our lives, from virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to self-driving cars and recommendation algorithms on social media platforms.
Generative AI and Phantom Sources
Due to the advances in deep learning technology and algorithms, Generative AI has emerged as a branch of AI, with ChatGPT being a prime example of Generative AI. Other examples would be image generating software (i.e. the recent 90s yearbook photo trend). Generative AI is learning and pulling from large datasets of examples, learning patterns along the way to generate new content that is similar to the original data.
While that all sounds well and good, in an academic setting where you need to be able to cite your sources accurately from where you acquired your information, it can lead to issues not only with academic integrity (link to academic integrity module or link to academic integrity and AI article) but with the sources themselves.
These Generative AI tools have been known to spit out fake or phantom references causing you to waste valuable time in tracking down those sources and then finding legitimate articles. And it is not just articles that they create but information as well. Rely on scholarly sources. Rely on the library to find those scholarly sources.
**Be sure to review the Student Code of Conduct, your course syllabus, or check with your instructor for the appropriate usage of Generative AI for you class.
Library's ChatBot
The Trefry Library has been piloting a ChatBot, a new rule-based tool to provide assistance when there is no librarian on duty. Through a series of prompts, the ChatBot is designed to assist you in answering your questions by navigating to relevant library FAQs. If there are no helpful FAQs, then you can submit a ticket to a librarian, and they will respond first thing.
Additional Information for Using AI
- Q. I found a reference to a source that I'd like to read, but I can't seem to find it anywhere at all. What's going on?
- Using Generative AI or Chatbots in the Writing Process
- AI-generated book recommendations in WorldCat.org and WorldCat Find beta
- Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier
- AI Prompt Engineering Isn’t the Future
- Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT
- How can I use Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Tools?
- Turnitin’s AI detector
- Why does ChatGPT generate fake references?