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Artificial Intelligence: Tools for Students

A guide for students on how to use AI ethically and responsibly in their courses.

Using AI when Researching

When using any of the generative AI chatbots for your research, it is essential to develop your fact-checking skills, including tracing claims, locating original sources, and verifying citations or 'cited' content in the generated response. Depending on the nature of the information you need to verify, you may be able to do this with Google, but when using chatbots for academic research, you may need to use library resources if the information is 'coming' from an academic journal article, for example. Always trace the claim to the original source before using it in your own work. 

See the Evaluating Online Sources guide for more information.

The ROBOT Test

When we are doing any research online, we need to think critically about the sources we use and if we want to build our research off these sources. Some questions we ask ourselves are:

  • 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. Hervieux and Wheatley, at The LibrAIry, have created the ROBOT test to consider when using AI technology.

R=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? 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 they information that they produce?

O=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?

B=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?

O=Ownership

  • 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?

T=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? 

Accessibility is important to us. While we have made efforts to make our guides as accessible as possible, it is possible that issues could be present. If you are having difficulty accessing content in these guides or if you have any questions about the accessibility of online information posted by the MCC Libraries, please contact us.