Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Literacy: Further Information on AI
Learn about how AI works and how to spot common errors AI tools tend to make. You'll also learn fact-checking and critical thinking strategies for AI, how to cite AI in an academic paper, and how to learn more in-depth about AI tools and issues.
The list of AI-based tools is rapidly expanding. Check out the resource below for a list of interesting tools you might be able to use for different purposes. If you'd like (and if you feel comfortable with the user agreements), check out a few of these tools and think about different purposes each one could be useful for.
A list of generative AI tools compiled by the University of Sydney, including general purpose generative AI tools, and AI tools for the generation of language, images, video, audio, presentations, code, and 3D models. Also included is a section on research-based AI tools useful for literature searching, summarising, and citation chaining.
Explore these additional optional resources for more information on different topics mentioned in this Research Guide, as well as references for the content included in previous pages.
A critique of a paper titled, “GPT Can Solve Mathematical Problems Without a Calculator" in which the author demonstrates the opposite: that "No matter how much data you train them on, they still don’t truly understand multiplication." Author: Gary Marcus is an American psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author, known for his research on the intersection of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence (AI)
This essay by scientist and computation pioneer Stephen Wolfram gives an in-depth look at machine learning in this readable explanation of how ChatGPT works.
An article on now lawyers for The New York Times are exploring whether to sue OpenAI to protect the intellectual property rights associated with its reporting. A Times suit would join other copyright holders taking aim at AI companies. The key question for AI suits: Will 'fair use' apply? Author: Bobby Allyn. August 16, 2023.
Read about the experiences of content moderators in this article about the meeting of more than 150 workers "whose labor underpins the AI systems of Facebook, TikTok and ChatGPT" who pledged to establish the first African Content Moderators Union. By Billy Perrigo, writing for Time magazine.
A rising movement of artists and authors are suing tech companies for training AI on their work without credit or payment. The article explains why artists and other creative workers are saying their livelihoods are at stake, especially because AI tools are already being used to replace some human-made work. Author: Gerrit De Vynck, writing for The Washington Post. Originally published July 16, 2023.
Glaze is a tool developed by the University of Chicago that lets artists prevent their art from being scraped and included in AI training datasets. have Many generative AI models are now used to copy individual artists through a process called style mimicry. Home users can take artwork from human artists, perform "fine-tuning" or LoRA on models like stable diffusion, and end up with a model that is capable of producing arbitrary images in the "style" of the target artist when evoked with their name as a prompt.
An analysis of the websites being used to train AI tools by technology reporters Kevin Schaul, Szu Yu Chen and Nitasha Tiku at The Washington Post. Originally published April 19, 2024.
Generative Artificial Intelligences (GAIs) are systems which create pieces of work that can equal the old masters in technique, if not in intent. These systems are trained on existing material, often using content pulled from the internet, from us. Is it right?" Article written by Engadget Senior Editor Daniel Cooper, updated July 27, 2022.
Bias and Guardrails for AI
This video is a walk-through of an MIT Media Lab study of how well popular face-recognition software identifies people of different genders and skin types.
AI bots generate a lot of heat, and keeping their computer servers running exacts a toll. While the exact burden is nearly impossible to quantify, The Washington Post worked with researchers at the University of California, Riverside to understand how much water and power OpenAI’s ChatGPT, using the GPT-4 language model released in March 2023, consumes to write the average 100-word email. By Pranshu Verma and Shelly Tan, writing for The Washington Post. September 18, 2024.
Large language models are here to stay, but they also present ethics and equity questions about their design, operationalization, and legacy that universities must consider. The interactive graphic in the article (shown below) outlines different harm considerations of Large Language Models. Authors: Rebecca Sweetman and Yasmine Djerbal, writing for University Affairs | Affaires universitaires, May 25, 2023.
An analysis by journalists from The Guardian showed that emissions from in-house data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple might be 7.62 times higher than the official tally. The article explains how tech companies use ‘creative accounting’ to offset in-house data center emissions. Written by Isabel O'Brien for The Guardian, published September 15, 2024.
The interactive image above identifies some of the harms and risks that have been described in the literature. We say “some” deliberately, as more and more research and analyses are being published by those most impacted by them. It is worth mentioning that there exists considerable overlap or intersectionality (compounded harm) between the categories mentioned above. From "ChatGPT? We need to talk about LLMs", by Rebecca Sweetman and Yasmine Djerbal, University Affairs Affaires universitaires, May 25, 2023.
References
About. (n.d.). OpenAI. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://openai.com/about
Asadi, N. (2023). ChatGPT and its Impact on Libraries - Intro to ChatGPT [panel presentation]
Bringing AI to School: Tips for School Leaders. (2023). [EBook]. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). https://qrcodes.pro/7anUhS
Lardinois, F. (2019, July 16). Grammarly goes beyond grammar. Grammarly Goes Beyond Grammar | TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/16/grammarly-goes-beyond-grammar/
Pasick. (2023, March 27). Artificial Intelligence Glossary: Neural Networks and Other Terms Explained. The New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-glossary.html
PlayHT Homepage. (n.d.). PlayHT. Retrieved July 13, 2023, from https://play.ht/
Stanford CRAFT: AI Literacy Resources. (2023). Retrieved July, 2023, from https://craft.stanford.edu/
Verma, P. (2023, February 6). What to know about OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/06/what-is-openai-chatgpt/
