“AI”: Avoid Instantly or Apply with Integrity?

FAQ

  • What is Generative Artifical Intelligence (AI)?

    Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, is “a large language model developed by OpenAI. I am based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, which stands for "Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3.5". I have been trained on a vast amount of text data using unsupervised learning techniques, which has allowed me to learn how to generate human-like responses to a wide variety of questions and prompts. My main goal is to assist users in generating natural language text and providing useful information.”

  • So, what does that mean?

    Generative AI such as ChatGPT is a computer program created by Open AI that is designed to answer questions users ask using a database of internet text that it searches in real time and paraphrases and quotes to the user. It was designed to provide information to a user in a conversational manner. Users are able to make an account with Open AI and to start chat threads with the AI. The user can continue to ask questions on a topic, and the AI will continue to provide answers, similar to a conversation with a chatbot.

  • Why all the hype?

    There are many stakeholders who are concerned with the usage of tools like ChatGPT and AI in writing. Many educators are concerned that users are cheating or are not applying critical reading and thinking skills. Others have concern that the AI will populate answers using fake news or misinformation given that it aggregates information from the internet without a human’s critical eye. Still more are worried that the biases and any malevolent intentions of coders can infiltrate the chatbot.

  • So, can I use it?

    The answer is: yes and no. Yes, there are honest and intelligent ways to apply tools like ChatGPT in school work. However, no, we cannot use it freely as a source. The Chicago Sschool’s stance on AI is that your work must be original, meaning you must be the one to generate your own work. There are specific policies on academic integrity and plagiarism that cover the copying of material from sources like ChatGPT. Your usage of AI in your work remains up to the discretion of your teacher. We will update this page if the school provides more specific guidance. Until then, we have provided a guide on how to approach AI in your work.

See other Active Learning strategies

How can I use ChatGPT/AI?

This guide will walk you through how to use ChatGPT and AI with integrity in your writing and school work. Please note that this is an ever evolving discussion, and this is not a static resource. You should check back here and read your emails from the school frequently to ensure you remain up to date. If you have any concerns or questions, you can always email the OSWL as well at writinglearning@thechicagoschool.edu!

  • The first step to using ChatGPT/AI in your school work is to ask your instructor if they accept work that used the program(s). You should also ask them if they have specific rules or qualifications that they expect you to follow.

  • While ChatGPT and AI can be helpful, there is a risk for plagiarism and misinformation when using it. Follow these specific guidelines for ensuring you keep integrity.

  • All usage of ChatGPT requires citation. We have shared our recommendations here.

Step 2: Using AI with Integrity

When using ChatGPT/AI in your writing, there are a couple of key concerns to address. Like any source, we cannot copy and paste without using correct quotation formatting, which can be found below. However, we should avoid copying and pasting text directly from ChatGPT without verification because the AI frequently plagiarizes on its own in providing you with the content you asked for. Check out the side-by-side images here to see how the program directly plagiarized content from various sources to answer our question without crediting the sources that it used to generate the answer it gave us.

ChatGPT’s Generated Content

Grammarly’s Plagiarism Checker Results

Looking at how ChatGPT used sources from the internet without citing them to answer your question, it becomes clear why we cannot copy and paste text from the AI into our academic work. We would be copying text that had been plagiarized, committing second-hand plagiarism. Ethically, even if you used a direct quote of the ChatGPT text with correct in-text, reference entry, and narrative introduction citation conventions, you would be knowingly using material you knew came from another’s work without attribution. Furthermore, programs such as TurnItIn and Grammarly would be able to detect this as plagiarism and report it on your assignment as well.

So, how can you use tools like ChatGPT?

If you want to utilize ChatGPT, after receiving permission from your instructor, you should follow specific guidelines:

  1. You assume responsibility for not plagiarizing. If you choose to use content from ChatGPT, you should use software like TurnItIn or Grammarly to ensure you are not using plagiarized content. As you saw above, not all of the content ChatGPT provided was plagiarized, but some of it was. If you discover that ChatGPT used other resources to create the response it gave you, it is more ethical to access the original source and utilize it in your writing.

  2. Think of ChatGPT and AI similarly to how you would Wikipedia; in scholarly writing, Wikipedia is not accepted as a source because it is open-sourced rather than peer-reviewed. Here is the difference:

    • Peer-Reviewed: a process by which the quality and potential value of a source/research is evaluated by the author’s peers in the scientific community. This ensures both accuracy and validity, helping to support education.

    • Open-Sourced: anyone with access to the source can help to create it, revise it, and edit it as they see fit without a review for quality control. This lack of validation omits such sources from scholarly writing, where accuracy and the promulgation of proven concepts are important to furthering education.

      Because ChatGPT is generated by an open review of internet texts, it cannot be considered a peer-reviewed source that supports your academic dialogue in your writing. As such, it is not a source for evidence in argument creation or to answer your instructors’ questions.

  3. Use ChatGPT like you would a conversation with a friend or a quick perusal of Wikipedia when you begin learning about a topic: a place to get started. When you are researching a topic to learn about it, or a complicated text is hard to understand quickly or process effectively, ChatGPT and AI can help to provide a conversational explanation of the topic or source. You might also be able to use it to understand the main ideas about a topic, like the example about Freud above shows.

  4. Cite your usage of ChatGPT. Even if you only use the information to research your written work, you will need to refer to using it to be honest about where your ideas were generated from. All sources used when writing a paper should be cited in a paper. The next section explains how to cite and refer to ChatGPT.

See OpenAI’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT for more guidance on how you can ethically use AI to enhance your writing process.

Step 3: Citing ChatGPT

If you choose to use ChatGPT/AI for your writing, you must cite it as a source. Here are the guidelines for citing ChatGPT provided by the American Psychological Association (APA, 2023).

APA Citation Formatting

REFERENCE ENTRY

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (April 12 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

Note: The version date should be the day you accessed the materials.

PARENTHETICAL CITATION

(OpenAI, 2023)

IN-LINE CITATION

OpenAI (2023)

Special Guidelines for ChatGPT/AI

ChatGPT has several unique qualities that make it different than all other sources: it’s open-sourced (as discussed above in Step 2) and continuously changing. When you ask ChatGPT a question, it generates a new and novel response each time, meaning that someone who reads your paper citing ChatGPT cannot search for and read your original source. This leaves an ethical dilemma for academic scholarship, as scholarly writing and citations depend on retrievable sources. Because of these factors, extra steps should be taken when citing the ChatGPT-generated text: an (1) in-line signal phrase introducing the usage of ChatGPT and an (2) appendix with the copied text.

  1. In-line signal phrase: refer to the usage of ChatGPT in your paragraph that applies its content. If you use any text directly from the ChatGPT program, you must properly quote it by using quotation marks. Here is an example of how we might describe the content it gave us on Freud:

    When asked “Why is Freud important to psychology?”, the ChatGPT conversation explained that Freud contributed much to the development of many frequently used theories, including that he “provided a framework for understanding the different aspects of human behavior, motivation, and emotion” (OpenAI, 2023).

  2. Appendix: copy and paste the entire text generated by ChatGPT into an Appendix at the end of your paper. Refer to this paper when you discuss the section or paraphrase of the full-text in the parenthetical citation like so:

When asked “Why is Freud important to psychology?”, the ChatGPT conversation explained that Freud contributed much to the development of many frequently used theories, including that he “provided a framework for understanding the different aspects of human behavior, motivation, and emotion” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).