AI can cause a lot of issues if used incorrectly. For example, AI, when asked to generate content, pulls what it *thinks* is the right information, but is actually a made-up collection of many different pieces of information that *could* be correct. This comes up most when you ask AI to generate citations.
For example, I asked Google Gemini to generate a list of academic citations applying a gender analysis to Jane Eyre. This is what is came up with. Note that I looked up each title and author it provided me, and edited the citations below. Not a single one of them came out correctly!
One thing to remember about AI is that it is only as smart as the user. We have to know what to tell it to yield good results, and we need to know enough about our subject to be able to identify if the information it is giving us is even useful!
College is all about learning the basics and foundational knowledge in your chosen field, and if we rely on AI, we might not learn those foundational skills. This will make your professional career more difficult, and your results with AI won't be as helpful.
Dependence on AI can also lead to a lack of creativity and critical thinking. Learning to problem solve and come up with ideas is a huge part of the college experience. Before we rely on these tools, we need to learn the basics of how to solve problems on our own.
One of the issues with AI is its inability to be bias-free, much like the human nature to have unconscious biases, AI seems to behave this way as well. Relying on information from AI, without vetting or thinking critically about the results we are receiving might have you accidently using very biased information and imagery in your assignments.
Uncovering bias in research is a huge part of the information literacy process, and with the inclusion of AI in this, we now have to think about how our machines and generative AI are using bias as well.
The video and articles below are great sources for learning more about the potential biases found in AI.
When using AI, we no longer have to come up with ideas on our own. However, we are limiting ourselves to what AI can generate for us. Creative professionals like writers, musicians, photographers, artists, graphic designers, comedians, directors, and others are warning us about the dangers of replacing human creativity with AI.
We have covered the negative aspects of AI in great detail, but despite all of that, it can be a helpful tool! It's just important to make sure you clearly understand the expectations of your professor and assignment to make sure you aren't doing anything that will later be considered academically dishonest.
Below are some helpful ways that AI can assist.