Copyright and Privacy Violations
Users who copy and paste text from library resources into an AI tool for summarization may be committing a violation of the university's legal licensing agreement with the publishers, especially if the AI tool ingests the content to train its AI model. Users may also violate legal or ethical boundaries by including personally identifiable information in their prompt. To avoid these types of violations, use library database AI tools like JSTOR or Statista's, Adobe Acrobat's summarization and query tool, use a retrieval augmented generation tool on your own computer, or read resources without AI help.
Hallucination
AI tools may invent facts, misrepresent, or even contradict source findings. To combat this possibility, always read original sources and verify assertions by checking against other credible sources.
Bias
AI tools are trained on existing data, which reproduce the biases that already exist in society. Because tools are trained on a large corpus that includes historical data, the weight of historical bias is disproportionately heavy even though societal shifts may have made improvements.
AI models also amplify bias, as they are attuned to and may exaggerate patterns in data.
To mitigate bias in AI tools, develop neutral prompts and guide AI to moderate itself for balanced representation, evaluate sources including datasets for bias, and seek out neutral sources.
Academic Integrity
The use of AI tools may result in academic integrity violations related to plagiarism or conflict with professor guidance. To ensure you avoid academic integrity violations, follow professor requirements and/or disclose the use of AI, using citation or a transparency statement.
Critical Thinking Skills
Active participation in the research process helps students develop key critical thinking skills and knowledge in your discipline.
Critical Thinking Skills: Cognitive Offloading
Michael Gerlich writes, "Cognitive offloading occurs when individuals delegate cognitive tasks to external aids, reducing their engagement in deep, reflective thinking [4,5]. This phenomenon is particularly concerning in the context of critical thinking, which requires active cognitive engagement to analyse and evaluate information effectively. Cognitive offloading, as described by Risko and Gilbert [6], involves using external tools to reduce the cognitive load on an individual’s working memory. While this can free up cognitive resources, it may also lead to a decline in cognitive engagement and skill development. The pervasive availability of AI tools, which offer quick solutions and ready-made information, can discourage users from engaging in the cognitive processes essential for critical thinking."
This video gives a summary of these concerns and the importance of carefully choosing how and when to use AI to ensure that you don't miss out on developing skills that will be important to your future success.
Video credit: Mary Broussard, Bucknell University