14 Critical Thinking with Generative AI

Generative AI

The use of generative AI tools by university students raises several ethical concerns that need to be carefully considered ^[1].

ChatGPT has identified some potential ethical risks for university students using generative AI tools:

1. Plagiarism:
   • Unintentional Plagiarism: Students may unintentionally generate content that closely resembles existing works, leading to issues of plagiarism if they do not properly attribute or cite the sources.
2. Academic Integrity:
   • Cheating and Academic Misconduct: Generative AI tools could be misused to create academic work on behalf of students, compromising the integrity of their education.
3. Bias in Research:
   • Biased Data and Research: If generative AI tools are used in research, there is a risk of introducing bias if the training data is biased. This can impact the validity and reliability of research findings.
4. Ethical Use of AI:
   • Understanding Ethical Guidelines: Students may lack awareness of ethical considerations when using generative AI tools, leading to unintentional ethical violations in their work.
5. Privacy Concerns:
   • Data Privacy: Students might use generative AI tools on datasets that contain sensitive or private information without proper consent or anonymization, raising privacy concerns.
6. Impersonation:
   • Identity Misuse: Students could misuse generative AI tools to impersonate others or generate content that falsely represents someone, leading to ethical and legal consequences.
7. Inappropriate Content:
   • Creation of Harmful Content: Students may generate content that is inappropriate, offensive, or harmful, either intentionally or unintentionally.
8. Dependence on AI:
   • Overreliance on AI: Students might become overly dependent on generative AI tools, potentially neglecting the development of critical thinking and research skills.
9. Professional Conduct:
   • Preparing for the Workplace: If students use generative AI tools for professional communication or content creation, there is a risk of not developing essential skills for effective communication in the workplace.
10. Intellectual Property Issues:
    • Ownership and Attribution: Understanding the ownership and attribution of generated content may be challenging, leading to potential intellectual property issues.^[2]

* As with all resources used, attribution needs to be applied to Generative AI in your writing.

Class AI Activity

The Library was asked to create a session for third year students on how to use Generative AI tools ethically in assessments. An activity was created that compared two of the most popular AI tools, Chat GPT and Google Gemini.

The session involved explaining the ethical use and risks of using AI tools in assessments and was followed by our activity.

Students were asked to work in groups with half of the group using Chat GPT and the other half Google Gemini. The students then asked the AI tool they were using to:

‘create a fun learning and development training package for employees in an industry of your choice’

The students then were asked to discuss how comprehensive the suggestions were? Where they thought the information came from? And if any tool provided any references? We then asked students to prompt the tool with ”add citations”.

We then discussed whether the students thought the answers were “academic”, all did not believe they were. We found Google Gemini gave references without being prompted and Chat GPT did not, we then discovered that when prompted Chat GPT gave references described as “fictional”. Students became more engaged as they compared results with each other and the class and all agreed that they would use these tools cautiously. Some students found that although the results were not completely accurate or trustworthy, the tools could be used to give them ideas when starting an assignment.