Artificial Intelligence : Home

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. It encompasses various technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics. AI systems can analyze large amounts of data, recognize patterns, and make decisions with minimal human intervention.

Generative AI: a type of AI system capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to prompts. ChatGPT is probably the most common one that has been floating around, but there are other known ones such as Microsoft Copilot (only available on Edge browser or the app) and Google Bard. These three are mostly text based, but some can also produce AI generated images.

Benefits 

• Brainstorm: Chatbot tools such as Microsoft CoPilot* and Gemini may be helpful for brainstorming ideas for research topics, organizing your thoughts, jump-starting your work and tackling writer's block.
• Break down concepts: Chatbot tools such as Microsoft CoPilot* and Gemini may help you break down and understand a complex concept or assignment prompt.
• Illustrate: Image generation tools such as Midjourney and Dall-e may be helpful for presenting or illustrating your work.
• Create: Many AI tools may be useful for creative adaptations.
• Summarize: Many AI tools, including chatbots like Microsoft CoPilot* and AI literature search, synthesis and visualization tools like ResearchRabbit and Elicit, can summarize articles.
• Discover new research: Many literature search, syntheisis and visualization  AI tools such as Research Rabbit and Elicit may help you discover new research in your area and visualize connections between researchers and between research literature.
• Translate: AI tools may help you translate between languages.

Limitations 

• Hallucinations: When using AI tools such as Microsoft CoPilot or ChatGPT for research, they may make up credible-sounding citations to sources that do not exist, or give inaccurate information, which is called “hallucinating.”
• Paywalled content: Literature search tools such as Research Rabbit or Elicit do not have access to the full range or full text of articles that are behind a paywall (access you may have with your EID). They may help with literature searching and with systematic reviews, but cannot fully substitute for a human being with access to this paywalled content.
• Scope of training data: AI tools can only produce based on the data they have been trained on, so it is important to understand what comprises the training data and the date ranges included. For example, as of January 2024, the data ingested from the Web used to train ChatGPT 4.0 only goes through April 2023. If you ask it who won the US presidential election in November 2024, it cannot answer.
• Reproducibility: Because generative AI tools such as Microsfot CoPilot and ChatGPT create new content based on their training data, the content it creates is not reproducible. In addition, because these tools create new content, you may find that multiple people using the same prompt at the same time will get different results.
• Ethics & Privacy: There are numerous limitations related to ethics, privacy, bias, labor and environmental impact.
• Legal Context: US laws related to AI tools are evolving, and tools to identify AI-created content are not fully effective.

Like any tool, there are advantages and disadvantages to using Generative AI. Generative AI is a remarkable resource, but it's essential to consider its potential drawbacks. The field of Generative AI is dynamic and continuing to expand. To utilize chatbot's benefits effectively, exploring various options and experimenting with different chatbots is advisable.