Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the use of programs, machines, and systems that simulate human intelligence. While AI has many applications, it is most commonly used to describe any type of technology (including voice recognition, robotics, and intelligent agents) to mimic human learning, problem solving, and logic (Whitson, 2023).
Artificial intelligence is used across all industries and academic subjects. The term is used to describe a variety of functions, such as finding the best route on Apple and Google Maps, self-driving cars, algorithms to display a list in a certain order on a website or in a social media app, and facial recognition software to unlock a smart phone. It is part of our everyday lives, at work, in school and at home.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can create content in response to prompts that you type in. ChatGPT can, for example, write a draft of an assignment for you, create works of visual art, write computer code, and much more. Because AI is so new and so powerful, universities like UMGC are developing polices and guidelines having to do with AI and how students might be able to use it ethically and safely.
This guide has been created for students and instructors to explore how to responsibly and ethically use AI in their work. There is information about how to critically engage with AI tools, examples and further reading on how students and instructors can use AI tools in their work, as well as information about AI literacy, citing AI, and current AI news, such as ChatGPT and other tools.
As Eaton and Anselmo (2023) described, “If we think of artificial intelligence apps as another tool that students can use to ethically demonstrate their knowledge and learning, then we can emphasize learning as a process not a product.”
Please note that all links in this guide open in new windows.
These links are to resources that include background information, such as information about the companies that own popular AI tools, definitions of terms that are often spoken about alongside AI, and basic information on how to use generalized AI tools.
This article from the New York Times Magazine contains an overview of large language models (LLMs) and the history of OpenAI, the company behind Chat GPT-4 and DALL·E 2 (an Art AI tool).
This article from the New York Times Magazine shows that artificial intelligence can be an effective tool for improving our work. However, it is not perfect; you must check facts and add your own research and thought.
This article looks at the history of bias in AI and suggestions on how to fix it.
McGill University Libraries created a list of definitions on many of the terms that are mentioned alongside AI.
This NPR interview with Safiya Noble addresses how advancements in artificial intelligence could further perpetuate biases in society.
This article from The Conversation discusses the future of teaching and learning alongside artificial intelligence.
This Ecampus Ontario open pressbook is a pragmatic guide to empowering citizen data-scientists to utilize common frameworks and tools to create conversational artificial intelligence experiences for users.
This guide was created by Julie Harding and Robert Miller, UMGC Library.
Parts of this guide are adapted (with changes) or reused from a guide created by Bronte Chiang at the University of Calgary. The University of Calgary guide is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References on this page: