ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in 2022 bringing generative AI (GenAI) to the attention of the wider world but it's not the only kind of AI and not even the only kind of GenAI tool available. Knowing a bit about AI in general and GenAI in particular can help you decide whether and how to use certainly tools ethically and responsibly for your research.
Two big things to know are:
- ChatGPT and others more general GenAI tools like CoPilot, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and others are statistically generating likely output; they aren't really search engines that can reliably find already existing info (though they may also be connected to search engines and/or basing their answers off of certain sources). They are often trained on and using the publicly available internet (amongst other things) with the attendant biases and usually don't have access to all of the literature in the library's subscription databases. That includes most Deep Research tools
- There are tools that are based on the research literature (sometimes just open access, sometimes including research literature in our subscription databases like Scite) that are optimized for research - both GenAI and not. And some tools will allow you to upload your own research material, though be cautious about copyright, intellectual property and privacy
See the resources below and in this guide for more information and details.
