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Evaluative and ethical use

Using GenAI ethically

QUT upholds academic integrity in the work of both staff and students. QUT's Academic Integrity policy is included in the Manual of Policies and Procedures: Academic Integrity. Refer to QUTs guidelines on "accountability and responsibility" and "transparency and honesty" when using AI.

When using the GenAI for learning, teaching and research you must consider what your are legally allowed to input into AI tools. Refer to the Ethical and responsible use of AI information in the Digital Workplace.    

Many library database agreements also contain clauses around the use of AI, so please read the QUT Library Databases and search tools conditions of use to understand your obligations. By connecting to and using Library subscribed databases, online journals, videos and ebooks you agree to:

  • Not input or upload content to any sites or tools (GenAI included) that may distribute the information to another person, unless allowed by the vendor.

Please contact your Liaison Librarian with any questions. 

Critically evaluating AI generated content

GenAI tools can assist us in our daily lives, at work, studying or socially. However, as with any tool, ethical, evaluative and appropriate use is key. 

This is because GenAI content can be unreliable, producing content that sounds completely credible but often isn't. Many of these tools don't cite their sources, making it difficult to verify. 

For example, if you ask ChatGPT to write a news story covering the financial earnings of a company it might include a non-existent quote from the CFO or CEO, because it knows these stories usually include one, so it makes one up. As a result, any form of academic writing can be filled with fictional citations and references because the model knows there should be one. These factual errors are called AI hallucinations. Basically, its job is not to be right 100% of the time, it is to sound convincing enough most of the time. 

This means critical thinking skills are essential to evaluate the authenticity and accuracy of what has been generated. You should always review the output, as you would with information from a Google search or academic database. Consider the factors below as you start your evaluation:

Factors to evaluate when using GenAI

Most tools have a free basic account that can be used by anyone, but these usually come with restrictions such as limits on the number of uses within a time frame. Many tools now charge for access to the platform or to premium features. This can create barriers for those who are unable to afford these costs. Due to data security, intellectual property and privacy concerns, staff must not require students to use GenAI for learning and assessment outside of those tools provided by QUT.

Gen AI tools can generate grammatically correct sentences that sound authentic and true, by predicting the next best word based on the training data they've been given. If you ask ChatGPT to write a news story covering the financial earnings of a company it is likely to include a non-existent quote from the CFO or CEO, because it knows these stories usually include one. These factual errors are called AI hallucinations. Basically, its job is not to be right 100% of the time, it is to sound convincing enough most of the time. 

Bias has been a concern in technology for a long time, and generative AI is no different. Bias can exist for many reasons, including: 

  • People inserting their biases when they create the models
  • The datasets used to train models, and   
  • Generative AI creating biases from how it interprets the data it has been trained on and the questions it is asked. 

GenAI can be used to create almost anything, so it can be very tempting to use it to create your assignments at university. However, it is expected that while you are at university you are developing your own knowledge and skill set. By presenting AI-generated work as your own, you have not been able to develop and show these skills. 

Like most online and digital tools, GenAI has to ability to collect and store data about its users. When signing up, users may unknowingly allow companies to collect this data if the terms and conditions are not read and understood properly. This data can then be used to further train and refine the models or in some instances sold to the highest bidder. 

  • Last Updated: Nov 6, 2024 9:41 AM
  • URL: https://libguides.library.qut.edu.au/chatgpt
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Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, Generative AI