Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Below are guidelines and tips for becoming "AI literate"--that is, gaining skills that enable you to use AI effectively, ethically, safely, and in a way that supports your learning.

In general, if you do use AI for any of your MSSU classwork, please keep these important considerations in mind: 

Be open and honest about your use of AI 

If you use an AI tool like ChatGPT for classroom work, acknowledge it, so that your professor knows. 

For example, if you use ChatGPT to draft a classroom discussion post for you, add a statement like this to the post, so you’re completely transparent about having used AI: “I used ChatGPT to write a first draft of this post. I critically evaluated the accuracy of ChatGPT’s draft, verifying facts and ideas, then I largely rewrote the AI draft in my own words and phrases.” 

Verify AI content 

While AI tools provide valuable insights, it’s essential to verify the information it generates. Cross-reference facts, statistics, and claims with reliable sources.

Don’t take everything at face value. If any AI tool suggests a historical event or scientific concept, verify it independently. Reliable academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and authoritative websites are your allies.

• Be cautious with controversial topics. AI models may inadvertently propagate misinformation, so fact-checking is crucial.

If you use AI, think of it as an assistant who’s efficient but not a real expert on the subject matter. You have to carefully check what AI wrote before using it as a starting point for your work. 

Add your own research and ideas

Even if you acknowledge that you used AI tools and checked the content's truthfulness, you cannot (as stated above) simply turn in the AI-generated content as your entire assignment. Use AI tools as a basis for classwork--for example, ask ChatGPT for good research topics, or have it help you create an outline for a paper--but do not use ChatGPT for an assignment without adding your own research and ideas.

Don’t overshare with AI 

ChatGPT, Claude and other AI tools are like any other website where you type in information. Be careful to keep your personal information safe. Use a secure computer network when interacting with AI so that hackers cannot intercept information. And never type in sensitive, personal information when you query AI. For example, if you use ChatGPT to research Social Security, don’t type in your own SSN!  

Acknowledgment  

Diana Fordham used ChatGPT to help write this section on AI Literacy!  I typed in the prompt, "Write a brief narrative on how college students can ethically and safely use ChatGPT for research and writing.” ChatGPT responded with a brief essay that pointed out the three salient guidelines above: be open and honest, verify, don’t overshare.

When you are doing research online, you need to think critically about the sources you use and if you want to build your research using these sources. Here are some questions we ask ourselves:

• How relevant is this to my research?
• Who/what published this? When was it published? 
• Why was this published?
• Where did the information in here come from? 

We also must ask ourselves questions when using AI software tools. The LibrAIry has created the ROBOT test to consider when using AI technology.

Reliability

Objective

Bias

Ownership

Type

Reliability

• How reliable is the information available about the AI technology?
• If it’s not produced by the party responsible for the AI, what are the author’s credentials or bias?
• If it is produced by the party responsible for the AI, how much information are they making available? 
  • Is information only partially available due to trade secrets?
  • How biased is the information that they produce?

Objective

• What is the goal or objective of the use of AI?
• What is the goal of sharing information about it?
  • To inform?
  • To convince?
  • To find financial support?

Bias

• What could create bias in the AI technology?
• Are there ethical issues associated with this?
• Are bias or ethical issues acknowledged?
  • By the source of information?
  • By the party responsible for the AI?
  • By its users?

Owner

• Who is the owner or developer of the AI technology?
• Who is responsible for it?
  • Is it a private company?
  • The government?
  • A think tank or research group?
• Who has access to it?
• Who can use it?

Type

• Which subtype of AI is it?
• Is the technology theoretical or applied?
• What kind of information system does it rely on?
• Does it rely on human intervention? 

The CLEAR famework, created by Librarian Leo S. Lo at the University of New Mexico, is a framework to optimize prompts given to generative AI tools. To follow the CLEAR framework, prompts must be: 

C: Consise: "brevity and clarity in prompts"

• This means to remain specific in your prompt. 

L: Logical: "structured and coherent prompts" 

• Maintain a logical flow and order of ideas within your prompt.

E: Explicit: "clear output specifications"

•  Provide the AI tool with precise instructions on your desired output format, content, or scope to receive a stronger answer. 

A: Adaptive: "flexibility and customization in prompts"

• Experiment with various prompt formulations and phrasing to attempt different ways of framing an issue to see new answers from the generative AI 

R: Reflective: "continuous evaluation and improvement of prompts" 

• Adjust and improve your approach and prompt to the AI tool by evaluating the performance of the AI based on your own assessments of the answers it gives. 

This information comes from the following article. It is highly encouraged to read through this article if you would like to improve your prompt writing. 

Lo, L. S. (2023). The CLEAR path: A framework for enhancing information literacy through prompt engineering. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(4), 102720–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2023.102720