Understanding how Generative AI works

Generative AI tools are very easy to use with so many choices of different technologies with which to experiment. Help students to understand how Generative AI works in order to encourage them to use their critical thinking skills when making choices about when and how to use AI. Support them in developing the questioning skills that allow them to make judgements about which AI technologies they use, including the ethical considerations and limitations.

Use the information from the Basics of AI section to support students to think critically about their use of AI and to consider the limitations of Generative AI.
Tools such as ChatGPT are commercially oriented and may use any data that is entered by users to train their algorithms. This data is not treated as confidential or secure. Draw on information from our using AI responsibly pages to facilitate a discussion around protecting personal information and questioning the ethics of the companies behind AI tools. This can sit nicely alongside challenging students to consider their own digital footprint. Encourage students to stop and think before signing up to accounts with different tools, to question who created it, why and for what purpose?
Help students understand that LLMs have been trained on content from books, articles, web pages and other online materials that may constitute repurposed or stolen intellectual property. The source material cannot be traced back to its origins because each output is newly generated content. Help students to consider how they would feel as content creators if their work was used in this way.
AI technologies cannot process knowledge, think or feel in the same way as a human, and may not address cultural contexts and social nuances in their responses. This can lead to misrepresentation of ideas and the creation of false information. Encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills using resources from the Academic Skills Kit website, especially those on the use of experience and judgment to question AI outputs.

Understanding information types for university level study

One of the most valuable uses of Generative AI for learning is as a source of information. It is a quick and easy way to gather background information on a topic and bring together different sources in a digestible and accessible way. However, although an excellent tool for information discovery, you must encourage students to view Generative AI outputs as one piece of an information jigsaw. If you expect students to use scholarly or specialist information, you need to help them understand the types of information that are available and suitable for university level study and their professional context.

The Academic Skills Kit has some valuable resources for students on information types and finding information, as well as evaluating information. The Library subject guides will also help you direct students to databases and resources available for your discipline.

Key discussion points

AI is not an academic information source. At university level, there is an expectation that the sources you use will be more in-depth, scholarly or specialised for your discipline, and that you will draw on multiple differing perspectives to form your own opinions.
AI does not usually provide citations. You typically cannot trace the response or any individual part of it back to a single parent source or know where the information came from. When prompted to give a citation, this will sometimes be included, but you cannot be sure that the reference is real or that it is the true source of the information.
The information AI draws upon may not be up-to-date or scholarly. The data sets that AI is trained on can vary and may be outdated.
Information may be incorrect. Outputs may look plausible, but on critical reading you may find that the response is factually incorrect or unrelated to the context.

Resources to share with your students

Thinking Critically about AI

Resources on the Academic Skills Kit include checklists that can be used to critically evaluate AI outputs and the efficacy of the tools themselves.

Cartoon lightbulbs in orange representing thinking

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking more broadly is something that many students find challenging. This section of the Academic Skills Kit can help.