Be honest with yourself – at some point in your university life, you’ve probably used Artificial Intelligence tools to some capacity to help with your work. The temptation is almost too strong to resist; an all-knowing machine with the answers to any and all of your questions, available to anyone with an internet connection; gone are the days of sifting through search results tirelessly and ending up nowhere. Generative AI consists of algorithms that are used to create new content like texts and video. Popular among students are websites such as ChatGPT and search engines’ own AI features that make researching and writing easier and quicker. The question is, how reliable are these websites? Should we really be using them as much as we do?
In October, the University of Edinburgh updated its AI policy. It now takes a supportive position instead of outright banning the use of Generative AI. This aims to promote responsible use of Generative AI and avoid common pitfalls such as plagiarism and lack of originality. The university asks students to use AI to “learn, not copy” and to credit AI in assignments where it has been used. It also provides a list of acceptable uses of AI, such as brainstorming, self-tutoring and planning your writing. The university stresses the importance of checking the regulations on AI for each assignment, as they may vary. It remains firm in its position that all work submitted should be original, and that presenting AI-generated content as your own is considered academic misconduct.
Regardless, students don’t hesitate to use AI, even when they haven’t explicitly been allowed to do so. One student says she uses AI all the time. Referring to particularly tedious portions of her assignments, she says: “that’s Chat GPT’s work.” It’s a website so heavily relied upon thanks to its specificity and speed, helping students out of tight spots and deadlines.
Some still enjoy its benefits without being completely reliant on it. One student I spoke to emphasized how useful ChatGPT was in the early stages of her assignments, for “brainstorming” and getting ideas. However, she expressed hesitancies over using the programme to actually write her work for her. “I’ve never turned anything in that’s been written by AI”. She’s not alone in this sentiment; aiming to avoid plagiarism, students may use AI to gather their ideas but write their actual essays themselves, in accordance with the university’s guidelines. There is also a sentiment of mistrust in the search engine, which can sometimes misquote sources and make mistakes.
Some students remain hesitant to engage with Generative AI. One student reports never having used AI for her assignments, speaking to her enjoyment of the learning process. Knowledge of proper use of AI is also a question: “I have considered it, I just wouldn’t know where to start”, she says. In a time where this software is so easily available, it’s important to not be fooled by how convenient it all seems.
The University of Edinburgh also urges students to use its own AI software before anything else. ELM (Edinburgh Language Models) is offered by the University as a “safer” option than Generative AI programs. It boasts that ELM accesses a wider range of AI Large Language, that the data is more secure, and it is supported by the university’s IT and tech teams, making it more reliable to use in assignments. It functions much like other AI programs, with a chat feature in which you can ask whatever you need, and you’ll receive generated answers instantaneously. The website also has five stages of Terms and Conditions you must agree to before accessing the feature, making anyone using it very aware of the regulations around use of AI in assignments. One drawback of this system is simply the fact that few students know about it. All the students I interviewed and myself didn’t know the university had its own AI feature.
“I vaguely remember hearing about it in first year,” said one student. “I wasn’t surprised, because the university invests a lot into these things.” Still, she had never used the programme herself, relying instead on the more popular ChatGPT. Before writing this article myself, I didn’t even know ELM existed. After testing it out, I can confidently say it serves as a useful tool.
The importance of learning how to use these websites cannot be stressed enough; nowadays, the first thing you see when you make a simple google search is an AI-generated response. Businesses, schools and even governments are adopting this newfangled technology and everyone’s working hard to keep up. It is crucial to know how to use this to our advantage and not to our detriment.
Illustration by Mollie MacGregor