Generative AI Literacy

Generative Artificial Intelligence

It’s easy to imagine artificial intelligence as a powerful computer that can answer questions, analyze data, and sound human. Today, AI can also be creative. AI can create original stories, music, images, computer code, and videos that never existed before. This is called GenerativeAI and it’s becoming a part of our online world.

Think about it this way…What if you could remember every image, song, and bit of text on the internet and access it all in seconds? If you need to create an image of a bee wearing Chuck Taylor shoes, the information is on hand. Unfortunately, we humans can’t consume everything on the internet, or remember it all. But Artificial intelligence can.

It remembers everything it encounters online. It’s seen thousands of images of bees and Chuck Taylors. It can assemble the data to combine the ideas in a new image, just for you. It works because massive computers connect to the internet and take a snapshot of billions of words, images, songs, videos, and more. The computers then analyze the data and look for patterns that may not be obvious to humans. When new information becomes available, the AI can learn and adjust what it generates. These data and patterns are then used to generate completely new works based on our requests.

To use Generative AI, you send chat messages, just like chatting with a friend online. These text commands are called “prompts” and AI is good at analyzing what you want and generating a human-sounding response. With a simple text prompt, tools like ChatGPT can generate the blog post in seconds. You can specify format, word count, tone, style and more. And ChatGPT will create a new version. You can even paste your words into the tool and ask AI to rewrite it.

This is possible because generative AI is built on Large Language Models or LLMs that can accurately assemble words that should appear together in the response. If your blog post needs an image, Generative AI can whip up a few options in whatever style you choose. Or, you can upload your own drawings or photos and have AI create versions in different styles.

Perhaps a video needs background music. You can tell Generative AI what you need, and it will generate new original music. In some cases, generative AI is built into existing tools and platforms.

For example, If you want to remove a person from a photo, or add a dog with a bowtie, it used to take time. Now you can just ask AI. Generative AI can be a powerful tool. However, it generates new works based on an imperfect source: the internet.

Like the internet, what it provides can be biased, incorrect, or misleading. Further, Generative AI may use sources like photos, paintings, songs, code and texts that are protected by copyright. Many artists and copyright owners feel that Generative AI uses their work without permission and represents a risk to their professions.

Used responsibly, Generative AI can open a world of productivity, creativity, and fun.

© Copyright CommonCraft

Using Generative AI tools ethically

Generative A-I tools are good at generating text and other output quickly, making them appealing to busy students, actively trying to keep up with coursework. You might think you are working smarter by choosing to use a Generative A-I tool instead of doing your own work! However, you need to think carefully about what you might be missing or risking when you don't complete your own work.

Your professor designed an assignment that helps you demonstrate your learning and meet course learning outcomes. While it might not seem relevant, a task that asks you to create an argument, support your ideas with credible research, and produce an assignment in any format is also helping you to build critical thinking and other skills necessary both in school and in the work world.

Choosing to use a tool to do your assignments for you, instead of doing your own work is not only dishonest and unethical; it causes you to miss out on important learning that will affect your ability to complete courses and assignments in the future. It could also have a negative effect on your career. If you’re studying to work in a particular field, your future employers expect that you will learn the skills and knowledge needed while in school.

If you use Generative A-I to generate an assignment and hand it in without permission, you’ve breached academic integrity by cheating. You’ll also be responsible for any copyright infringement, plagiarism, misinformation or fabrication that the tool added into the assignment you handed in.

Some professors will ask you not to use Generative A-I, while others specifically ask you to use and experiment with it. To complete your schoolwork ethically and avoid academic integrity issues, verify if and how A-I tools can be used for each and every assignment. Read your assignment, the course syllabus, and information on Blackboard carefully – does your professor have a policy on AI use? Not sure? Ask your professor.

Discuss the assignment and make sure that you’re clear about the expectations. You might ask: “Can I use Generative AI to brainstorm, create an outline, or help me edit my writing?”. If you are permitted to use AI, make sure you understand how you should give credit and cite the tools.

Not convinced that using Generative A-I without permission could be problematic? Consider the implications for your future career. If you don’t learn the skills taught in your courses, you may enter the workforce unprepared for the challenges of your field. Using Generative A-I without evaluating its output, identifying problems, and ensuring the information generated is credible can lead to real consequences – such as being the reason a project fails, a building or bridge isn’t structurally sound, or copyright is breached. Consequences in your career could include losing your job, ruining your personal reputation or the company you work for being sued.

The use of Generative A-I in the workplace is evolving, and in some fields, there is concern over the harvesting of data, trade secrets and proprietary information associated with these tools. You may work for an organization that encourages the use of A-I tools to improve efficiency, while others will ban the use of A-I tools or ask their employees to use only specific tools that are designed to safe-guard data and privacy, both for the company and its clients.

If you want to use Generative A-I in your work, at school OR in the workplace, you need to use it ethically. Ask before using it, cite it, evaluate the output, and make sure you are using it in an approved way.

In some cases, your professor or supervisor may ask you to make an AI disclosure statement. Evaluate the output very carefully. Ensure that you, and any group or teams you’re working with are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of Generative A-I. Think about ways you can work smarter with AI, potentially using it for Brainstorming, Outlining, Identifying keywords, finding inspiration or editing, rather than expecting the tool to generate output without evaluating, reviewing and ensuring its credibility and suitability for the task.

Need more help? Make sure to watch our video on choosing better AI tools and check in with the Library and Learning services team.

Evaluating Generative AI output

Publicly accessible A-I tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and more can generate fast content for you, but they often come with compromises around your personal information, the credibility of the generated output, and the protection of copyright and intellectual property. This can equate to stealing someone’s ideas, research, writing, art, photography, or other creative or academic efforts, and can affect the creator’s livelihood.

Remember that anything you submit to a Generative A-I tool, including your questions, information about your assignment or a work project, source information and potentially personal information you may submit during your conversation with the tool will often become part of the dataset.

Do not copy and paste or upload any information to an A-I tool unless you own the rights to it, or you risk violating copyright and intellectual property laws. Unless you have specific permission, this applies to your professor’s course materials, information from textbooks or resources you find in the library, information and documents from your workplace, and more.

Here's some sample content generated by the tool DeepSeek.

Web-based generative A-I tools usually cannot tell you where they got their information reliably, and often fabricate realistic sounding references, facts and data that cannot be verified. While some tools are a little better, the majority cannot be assumed credible. When you have permission to use a tool, remember that you’re responsible for its output. Make sure you leave time to evaluate the output you plan to use.

Did you ask the tool for references or research on a topic? You’ll need to access these sources AND read them before using them in your work.

How can you check sources? Click on provided links to review source materials. Uh oh, we’ve got a problem. The first link is invalid, and the second links to a completely different article. These APA citations provided are either fabricated or incorrect.

Link doesn’t work or can’t access the article? Look it up in a library database to see if it exists. If an article exists, searching with information from the reference will take you right to the source. You can also do the same with Google. Articles that actually exist will show in Google, even if the library doesn’t have them. Looks like the first of these sources exists, but DeepSeek has provided the wrong link.

The second article reference linked to a completely different source than expected. This is usually an indicator that the generative A-i tool has fabricated a reference. Let’s try looking up the journal mentioned on Google. While the journal volume and number exist, the article that DeepSeek cited does not exist in this publication. The tool has fabricated a reference by combining bits and pieces of likely content on this topic.

Did you ask for a quote, facts or data? You’ll need to fact check and ensure the sources used are credible and suitable for your project. As you’ve seen so far, It is not enough to assume that because the system gave you a reference, the information is factual or real. Once you’ve located the sources mentioned, check to make sure quotes and facts are accurate. In this case, while the first article did exist, the quote was fabricated and doesn’t show up in the article!

You can also fact check data and information against other sources on the same topic. Try Googling to verify the info. In the paragraph, DeepSeek states that censorship attempts in Canadian libraries are rising. If we search in Google, you can see that a variety of potentially credible sources state this fact. If you've verified the information is accurate, but there’s no citation – now would be a good time to cite a verified, credible source to support this work.

Once you’ve verified that the information is factual and can be backed up by a real source, it’s time to evaluate the source itself.

You might find the CRAP test to be helpful in this scenario. Just like you do when you conduct your own research, carefully review the source asking yourself questions about whether or not it’s Credible, Reliable, Authoritative and Accurate, and what the Purpose or point of view behind the source is. You may find it helpful to pause the video or take a screenshot of some of the questions you can ask yourself during a CRAP test. While it may seem tedious at first, the more you use the CRAP test tool, the easier it gets. You can find more information on the CRAP test on the Library’s website.

It can be time consuming to verify references, fact check information and determine if sources are really credible. Make sure you leave enough time to complete this work before finalizing and handing in your assignment.

Need help? Check in with the Library and Learning Services team for assistance.

Choosing Better Generative AI Tools

Generative A-I tools are constantly evolving and surprising us with the output they can generate. If your professor or employer has given you the go ahead to use a Generative A-I tool in your work, you’ll need to spend a bit of time considering the strengths and weaknesses of different tools, evaluating them to make sure you are using the best tool for the job. You can search the web for info, read more about the tool on its website, or check in with your friendly library and learning services team for more assistance.

Need to conduct research for an assignment, but not sure where to start? Try using the Library’s Research overview tool. From within Page OnePlus on the Library's website, access the "More" menu, and select Research Overview.

Provide your research question, such as "How does Censorship Affect Canadian Libraries?"

You can use the tools provided to select items immediately available, limit to a specific date range, click to generate an overview.

Results don’t look right? Adjust your research question and try again. The tool even suggests related research questions for you to consider.

The tool will generate an overview of articles and relevant resources found IN the library’s collection. There’s no fabrication of sources or citations here! You can read a brief summary of the results, or click through to individual articles within the database.

If you decide to use information directly from the research overview screen, make sure to cite it! Remember, starting your research with library tools comes with the added benefit the “cite” button and a team of real humans to help you! At the time this video was created, the research overview tool is still under development. It doesn’t currently include news, and it specifically excludes some of the library’s resources due to licensing agreements, but it will still give you a great starting point. It’s important to note that this is respecting copyright by allowing creators to opt-out of the tool.

Need help understanding course concepts or studying? Check to see if your professor has enabled the AI chatbot within Blackboard, or consider using the Contact North AI Tutor pro for a chatbot type learning experience.

What about at work? Ask your employer what tools are permitted or recommended. Some organizations have their own Generative A-I tools that protect the privacy of data for the company and its clients. If your employer doesn’t have a policy about what can and can’t be used, ask around and make sure to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of various tools with your colleagues. Evaluate carefully to make sure they will actually improve productivity while maintaining the level of privacy and data security needed.

You might also find it useful to use a structured tool for assessing Generative A-i tools, before you use them. The ROBOT test provides an acronym and prompting questions to help you review different A-I tools. ROBOT stands for: Reliability, objective, bias, owner, and type. You may find it helpful to pause the video and take a screenshot to save this info for later, or visit the Library's artificial intelligence page for more details.

Need more help? Check in with the Library and Learning Services team!