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Should I use AI to search for information?

AI requires verification and editing which may not be worth your time. (Image generated by Copilot)

AI is moving so quickly that some of this information may be outdated when you read this page. But no matter how advanced AI becomes, a human should always be in charge.

The illustration on the right was generated by AI. Although you've seen many AI-generated images throughout this course, these images have gone through several iterations to get them to look the way we want, and they have been edited further by a human in Photoshop.

Generative AI

AI that can create original content. This content is based on the data sets used to train the software system.

This picture exemplifies what you may get when you use generative AI without critically reviewing and editing its output. As you can see from the image, generative AI may not be the best tool for finding sources of information because generative AI outputs may be wildly inaccurate.

Generative AI "answer engines"

Online search engines were revolutionary when they first came out, and now companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and others are hoping that generative AI can take things one step further and become "answer engines."

The only problem is that these so-called "answer engines" still get simple things wrong--a lot. For example, in the promotional material debuting the capabilities of Google's Bard, the AI claimed that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took the first pictures of an exoplanet.

This was quickly and easily disproven by space enthusiasts who pointed out that the first picture of an exoplanet was taken in 2004 — years before JWST was launched.

Open AI's SearchGPT demo didn't go much better. As this Atlantic article points out, SearchGPT couldn't even "properly copy-paste from a music festival’s website."

You don't want to be like the lawyer who got into serious trouble for using fake sources and information supplied by ChatGPT, so instead of wasting your time verifying generative AI information sources, use an appropriate tool.

Some AI search tools, like Research Rabbit and Semantic Scholar, can be used appropriately for your academic research because these tools use AI to search for scholarly articles instead of generating answers for you. These tools are generally safe to use and can be quite helpful. In module 4, we will give you more information about how to use these AI tools, as well as a framework to critically evaluate any information you find on the internet.

Generative AI strengths and weaknesses

Even though we do not recommend generative AI tools as "answer engines," there is a broad range of other services generative AI can provide. This table helps you determine when AI would be appropriate to use.

A chart with the strengths and weaknesses of AI.
Strengths	Weaknesses
Some AIs can be used as tutors to help you study by defining concepts or generating practice quiz problems for you to check your understanding Can aid in the brainstorming process by providing suggestions and alternatives to your topic Can generate photos and drawings to aid in presentations Can assist with coding	Frequently and convincingly produce information that isn't true or doesn't exist Some generative AI responses are so low quality that it takes a significant amount of time and human effort to verify or adapt the output to make it usable AI-generated content is not your work. It must be modified and edited before it can be used in any assignment Use of AI tools limited by paywalls May misinterpret your prompt or request AI content can't be reproduced or repeated, which is bad for academic scholarship that relies on reproducibility to verify study results Contains implicit bias (more about this in module 4)

University of Texas Libraries. (2024, May 8). Benefits of generative AI tools. Artificial Intelligence (AI). https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/c.php?g=1363366&p=10085246

Key takeaways

There are pros and cons to using generative AI tools. Generative AI is best used in very specific contexts, in very limited ways, and always with a human in charge.

AI tools specific to searching, like Research Rabbit and Semantic Scholar, can be more helpful in searching for information sources than generative AIs that promise to generate answers.