Atkins Library Research and Instruction Librarians acknowledge that we are currently navigating through a watershed moment in the emergence and use of generative AI in our everyday lives.
As librarians and trained information professionals, we see the exciting and revolutionary opportunities this new technology brings and the potential to better many aspects of our lives. As with any new information technology, there are positive and negative impacts on our individual lives and society. As librarians steeped in knowledge on the development of past information technologies, we also bring a critical lens and appeal for the thoughtful and ethical use of generative AI. Impacts on the following should be examined in the expanding embrace and embedding of AI technologies within research practices:
- Critical thinking skills
- Biases and inaccurate information perpetuated through training data and algorithms
- Copyright and privacy
- Access and usability
- Environment and our communities
Our approach to generative AI focuses on its use in the research process and is one that prioritizes the development of critical thinking and information literacy skills for the campus community. We can provide support and consultation in considering how and how not to incorporate generative AI tools, such as text, image, audio, video, and multimedia generators, into your research practices.
How are we defining generative AI?
We are using the National Library of Medicine’s definition of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which says generative AI is “a system of algorithms or computer processes that can create novel output in text, images or other media based on user prompts. These systems are created by programmers who train them on large sets of data. The AI learns by finding patterns in the data and can then provide novel outputs to users' queries based on its findings.”
You can view the full definition on their website.