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Artificial Intelligence

This guide offers an introduction to generative AI, guidance on using AI tools, and additional resources for learning more and getting help.

Data Security and Privacy

When you upload material into an AI tool, it's often unclear whether the developer will retain that information, use it to train its AI tools, or even share this information with other users of the tool. Ultimately, if you want to keep information private, don't upload it into AI tools, such as when asking a tool to help improve your grammar and writing. Consider the following questions:

  • Are you uploading sensitive or confidential information, such as participant interviews or your own personal information? 
  • If your research requires Institutional Review Board approval, would uploading or pasting research materials into an AI tool violate your IRB protocol? 
  • Are you sure that your intellectual property wouldn't be used with or without your permission? This could be especially important to PhD students, researchers, or other scholars who hope to publish their groundbreaking research. 

Please contact your subject librarian with additional questions.

Data Quality and Bias

While AI tools often generate output that appears authoritative and confident, these tools often don't show the process they used to create that content or the sources they based the generated content on. In fact, AI tools often fabricate imaginary sources that they claim were used to create the generated content. 

  • What datasets were used to train the AI tool?
  • Are the outputs valid & reliable? 
  • Are the results/output reproducible? How would you know?
  • Are the sources cited in the generated text real, or are they "hallucinations" created by the tools themselves? 
  • How might the outputs be biased, either intentionally or unintentionally? 

Environmental and Human Impact

In addition to the above considerations, it's important to consider the broader impact that AI use has on individuals, society, and the environment. 

This does not mean AI tools should not be used, but it is worth considering questions like these as these tools develop.

Copyright © University of North Texas. Some rights reserved. Except where otherwise indicated, the content of this library guide is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Suggested citation for citing this guide when adapting it:

This work is a derivative of "Artificial Intelligence", created by [author name if apparent] and © University of North Texas, used under CC BY-NC 4.0 International.