AI and Information Literacy: How AI-Based Tools Work

Introduction

You might have heard about or used artificial intelligence-based tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E, but how do these tools actually work? This section will cover how tools like these are made, how they generate information, and some considerations to think about as you assess if and how to use them.

On the next page, you'll be asked to check your knowledge of this information in a short quiz.

How do AI-based tools work?

What is actually going on when you use an AI-based tool? Check out this three-minute explanation from Hal Daumé III, Professor of Computer Science at University of Maryland, Institute Director for the Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS).

Watch AI Overview

Explore different types of AI

While some AI-based tools might come to your mind right away, there are a lot of different tools out there with a lot of different uses. As you evaluate how to use these tools responsibly in your academic work, it is useful to keep the breadth of potential uses in mind. You or your instructor might want to use one kind of tool for a certain situation but not others.

Click through the sections below to explore some potential applications of AI. Please note that this list is not comprehensive or an endorsement of any particular tool used in the examples.

Text and Code

Some tools will give you writing or paraphrasing suggestions (e.g. Grammarly, QuillBot), and other tools will generate new text or code based on a prompt from you (e.g. Bing AI, Claude, ChatGPT, Google's Bard).

Grammerly

Bing Chat

Quillbot paraphrase example — Quillbot paraphrase

Image

Some tools will generate unique images for you, based on a text prompt (e.g. DALL-E, Adobe Firefly, Midjourney

Archie the mammoth at UNL created by Bing Image Creator — Bing Image Creation Prompt: Archie the mammoth at the University of Nebraska Lincoln

archie UNL mammoth child drawing — Bing Image Creation Prompt: Archie the mammoth at the University of Nebraska Lincoln child's crayon drawing.

archie the mammoth at UNL in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe Bing Creation — Bing Image Creation Prompt: Archie the mammoth at the University of Nebraska Lincoln in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe

Video and audio

Some tools will use written text to generate spoken language or to create talking video avatars (e.g. Synthesia, PlayHT).

Synthesia selection of avatars — Synthia selection of Avatars

Research

Some tools will help you find research articles or links (e.g. Bing AI, Elicit)

Take a closer look at ChatGPT

Here are four facts about ChatGPT that will be helpful as you think about its uses.

"Generative" refers to a type of machine learning model that creates new content.

"Pre-trained" refers to a type of machine learning model that was trained on an enormous amount of data. In the case of ChatGPT, the model was trained and on hundreds of billions of words (mostly from websites) to learn patterns and relationships between words and phrases.

"Transformer" refers to part of the machine learning model that can better understand sentences because it can understand the relative importance of different words in context.
- It can generate new text for any written prompt and is designed to provide human-like conversational interactions. Some examples of things it can do include: write an essay, generate a definition, de-bug or write functional code, suggest tourist destinations, make up recipes based on a collection of ingredients, craft a love letter, etc.
- It produces unique responses each time, and you can tweak its responses because it remembers the whole chat conversation. You can instruct it to respond to you in different ways (e.g. "please reply to me like I'm in 2nd grade").

Using AI carefully and thoughtfully

Alongside the exciting possibilities of these AI-based tools, there are a good number of things to be careful about as you assess if and when you want to use them. Start thinking through major considerations in this two-minute overview video from Katie Shilton, Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies and Co-Director of the BS in Social Data Science at University of Maryland, Co-PI of The Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS).

Watch AI Ethics

Explore each section for more about the topics listed below.

Accuracy
Copyright and labor
Bias
Security and privacy

Accuracy

Can you trust that the information you receive from these AI-based tools is correct? Not without double checking. Many chatbots such as ChatGPT were designed to produce content that seems realistic, so they will produce inaccurate content with the same level of confidence as accurate content and it's up to you to determine which is which. You'll need to employ a variety of strategies to double check information before assuming it is correct. You'll learn more about how to do this in the following section.

Copyright and labor

Where does the content come from? Because machine learning takes huge inputs of data sets, many models use information from the internet in their training. Artists and authors have criticized AI-based tools for using their work without compensation or credit. If an AI-based image generator can produce work in the style of a certain artist, should that be seen as stealing, or paying homage?

Bias

While it may be tempting to think of an output from an AI-based tool as neutral when it comes to bias, that is not the case. Since machine learning models are trained on real world datasets, and since the world contains bias, it is safe to assume that outputs from these models may replicate or even exacerbate biases we see in the world around us.

Security and privacy

It is safe to assume that -- in some way or another -- any information you put into a AI-based tool is being used to further train the machine learning model. If you choose to use these tools, you'll want to make sure you're never putting personal or secure information about you or anyone else in your chats. You should also read through any user agreements if you sign up to use a particular service and make your own decision if you are comfortable agreeing to the terms. If one of your class projects requires the use of a particular technology that you do not wish to create an account for, you can ask your instructor for an alternative way to complete the assignment.

Additional resources (optional reading)

Explore these additional optional resources for more information on different topics mentioned on this page, as well as references for the content.

Learn more

Get an in-depth look at machine learning and what ChatGPT is doing
Explore different generative AI tools in this guide from The University of Sydney
For more on copyright and labor questions, check out an analysis of the websites being used to train AI tools, read about the experiences of content moderators, explore the question of is DALL-E's art borrowed or stolen, and read about comedian Sarah Silverman and other artists and authors suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement.
Learn about bias in AI: the gender shadesLinks to an external site. video walks through a study of how well popular face-recognition software identifies people of different genders and skin types.
Explore an interactive graphic outlining different harm considerations of Large Language Models for universities to think about.

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/

Now that you learned generally how AI-based tools work as well as their benefits and risks, continue onto the next page of this module to check your knowledge!