AI in education

How can AI tools (such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot) be used?

The main focus for Search & Write is writing, searching, study skills, and source use in higher education. When it comes to AI, the main focus of Search & Write then is how large language models, such as ChatGPT, can be used in these connections.

AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are made to generate text, not to retrieve information. The tools are based on large langauge models that guess the next word of a sentence. They are trained on texts that contain a lot of information, but are not trained to retrieve information accurately. The tools serve better to enhance textual flow and continuity than to provide relatiable content.

When regarding the use of AI, you must adhere to both legal and ethical guidelines, and you must consider how suitable, safe, and reliable using the tool is.

Remember that there are other methods and tools that can serve your purpose better. A search in Oria will for instance give you better access to relevant and quality checked sources than Microsoft Copilot.

Guidelines may vary between institutions and disciplines, and you should always check with your academic community.

Legal guidelines

Remember to follow the relevant guidelines incorporated in the EU AI Act, GDPR, and intellectual property rights (the Norwegian law of copyright from Lovdata in Norwegian) .

Be mindful of what information you enter into an AI chat. Many students have access to their own chat services from their institution, such as GPT UiO, UiB chat, or Sikt AI chat. When you use these tools, you can only share so called green and yellow data. You must always avoid sharing confident and strictly confident information. Below you will see an explanation of what is meant by different forms of data:

Click on the image to read

Note that you must never share material that is subject to copyright with open tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. The content from the material you enter can potentially be included in the tool and thereby become accessible to others who use it. This is considered a violation of copyright laws. You can read more about the use of AI tools and copyright here

The tools are very quickly evolving, making it difficullt to draw up guidelines and legislation at the same pace. Search & Write provides general recommendations for safe and appropriate use, but check the guidelines at your institution and within your academic discipline.

Searching

There are many different tools based on artificial intelligence that have been developed (and continue to be developed!) to find relevant soures, such as Keenious, Elicit, ResearchRabbit and others. These tools can be useful if you are looking to find a few useful articles regarding a paper topic or research question during the initial stage of a search, or when you are doing literature searches that supply (are in addition to) an already conducted literature search. These tools are by themselves not suited for systematic literature searches, as these searches will not be able to satisfy the demand of being verifiable.

AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot can be useful when you are getting started with a search strategy, as they can come with simple suggestions for how to set up a search for a research question. Be aware that the suggestions from such AI tools often can contain mistakes. It is important to be critical and carefully check for mistakes such as wrong search words, typos, or the inaccurate use of AND/OR. To ensure the quality of these search strategies, you must be knowledgeable of academic literature searches and the discipline you work within.

If you want to test out AI tools either to help you find synonyms for an academic term, or get started with your search strategy, or come up with suggestions for relevant academic articles, it is important that you give the tool well articulated instructions (also known as prompting, see below «Explore and Use») where you define the criteria for what you are looking for.

Artificial intelligence has added new dimentions to the information flow. At the same time, it creates a growing need for critical assessment and navigation. The check list below can help you analyze different AI tools, and give you an idea whether it would serve your purpose, or not.

Check list for the use of AI tools COMING!

Handy tip

Check with a subject librarian at your institution for good advice and help to find and use quality discovery tools when looking for academic literature for your paper.

Writing

AI tools can be useful for supporting writing processes and developing writing competence, especially if you are writing in your second or third language and/or have reading or writing difficulties. The tool becomes more useful if you learn how to talk (chat) with it. The point is not to «get an answer» or a complete text, but to use the language model to develop your own text, in a lanague that makes good sense to a reader.

Here is an example of how you can work:

• Ask the chatbot to rewrite smaller sections of your text to a simpler/more direct/clearer language.

• Then ask the chatbot to explain what it did (for example, in what way the new text is easier/clearer etc.). The explanation it gives will be useful feedback for you as a writer.

• As a third step, you can ask it to explain its decisions. The chatbot will then explain why it is easier to understand the sentence structure, word choices, etc., that it has made.

• Finally, it is up to you to evaluate whether the ’new’ langauge is anything you would like to use, and whether you recognize your own voice in it, or if you would rather keep the original text.

If you use langauge models in this way, it corresponds to the way you would use existenting tools such as word lists (e.g. in Word), Google Translate, and online searches for phrases.

It is good research ethics to be up front about the tools you have used and how you have used them.

NB!

If you use ChatGPT or another language model to produce complete text to be handed in for evaluation, exam, and such, it can be considered cheating. It is important that you check the guideleines in your subject discipline and at your institution.

Sources

Text from AI tools (ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot)

You must always check and assess whether text from an AI tool such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot is useful for your purpose.

In those instances where you are certain that it is safe and allowed to use a tool, the reference style APA has made a recommendation for how to refence AI generated texts.

To assess whether it is safe to use an AI tool, you can try to answer «yes» or «no» to these questions:

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When should you cite?

It you use an AI tool as an aid in your writing process, you do not need to include it as a reference.

AI tools are not sources

Therefore you often do not need to cite your use of an AI tool: Text from an AI tool

But you should cite the AI tool if you refer to a certain chatbot, and for example create content to illustrate how it works. Or when the tool you have used affects results, analyses, and findings in your paper.

How to cite an AI tool

In those cases you need to cite an AI tool: AI generated text

An AI generated text cannot be recreated by others. In your paper you therefore should describe how you have used the AI tool.

It can often be relevant to recount what you entered in the chat, including time, extent, and how the results were integrated in your text. If the answer from the chat is very long, you can include it with your paper as an attachment.

Note that AI tools are considered software, and that a text generator, such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and others, never can take responsibility as co-author.

Check the guidelines at your institution

Be mindful that texts generated by aritificial intellgience, such as large language models, come with a range of ethical issues, and using such texts in an academic context can fall within regulations of cheating and plagiation. Check what is allowed at your institution if you consider using such a service.

Study skills

COMING

External resources

• UiO AI

• UiB AI

• HVL AI

• PhD on Track: AI

• EU AI ACT

• Digdir AI resources (in Norwegian with English links)