Thank you

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This is it! Tonight is my last official post for EME6414, Summer 2023. What to write about? If you had asked me a few hours earlier, my honest answer would have been "no idea". It's not I don't have anything on my mind (I may have too much actually), but I was not sure how to approach this last post. So, I've decided I'll do just as usual and draw a few personal reflections. To help me tackle this last challenge, I went back to Canvas and get an overview of our Modules Main Page. Gosh, what a journey it has been! The first image that comes to my mind is the iceberg metaphor. You know, this impression that for years, you had been exploring the World Wide Web with confidence, as if you were in your own neighborhood, with your own habits, hanging out with the same people, getting what you were looking for, not less, not more. And one day, you realize that you were just scratching the surface and that a whole world was lying underneath, inviting you to a whole new...
1 comment

Made with AI: who's the author?

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One of this week's posts in the class blog was about ChatGPT, one of the most popular and controversial topics of discussion lately.

The question being currently discussed in my institution deals with the overall use of AI in education. Is it ok for students to use ChatGPT when writing an assignment? Surprisingly (at least to me), this doesn't seem to be an issue, and teachers might even encourage students to use it, but with caution and a critical-thinking mindset.

So ok. Let's do this. But in practice: must students cite AI-generated references? If so, how? And, are ideas and content generated with AI tools your property? Can you put a copyright on it?

Yes, more discussion with co-workers, more debate during happy hours.

Thanks to Tim Slade on LinkedIn this week, I was able to read a post he recommended entitled "Can you copyright the content you make with generative AI?" written by Brandon Copple. I added it to our Diigo group and underlined interesting parts if you want. The blog explains that an author of a novel was not able to protect with copyright her illustrations for her cover created with Midjourney. The "Copyright Office said that because you can’t predict exactly what a generative AI tool will create, you can’t copyright it". 
In short, the Court focused on the output rather than the input of the creator (the prompts) to make their decision. I'll let you read this short but really interesting blog post that also reminds us that the law about AI-generated content is still new and will most likely evolve over time as we encounter similar but always different and unique situations.

Let's go back to my first two questions: must students cite AI-generated references? If so, how? In my institution, the discussions surrounding this topic are just at their onset. But I encourage you to type "how to cite references generated with AI" in your web browser, and you'll see that a lot of universities have updated their recommendations regarding citations, but that guidelines and rules are far from universal. I've checked those from the University of Queensland. This Australian university suggests the following APA style guidance:

In-text

Author of generative AI model, Year of version used

Example:

(OpenAI, 2022)

OpenAI (2022)

Reference list

Author of AI model used. (Year of AI model used). Name of AI model used (Version of AI model used) [Type or description of AI model used]. Web address of AI model used

Example:

OpenAI. (2022). ChatGPT (Dec 20 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/

The full transcript of a response can be included in an appendix or other supplementary materials.


Here, author is OpenAI.

Sounds fair? logical? wise? What do you think? Should we promote input from the creator over output generated by artificial intelligence?

Comments

  1. Ericka AJune 24, 2023 at 6:36 PM

    This is an interesting topic. If it is created by AI, is it considered my original work? I don't think so... Having AI write your papers wouldn't seem right to me since it is not coming from me, only the topic maybe? I am not sure about that. I do agree that it needs to be cited when used.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vanessa CJune 25, 2023 at 5:59 PM

    I agree with you and Ericka. It is not my original work if it is AI-generated. I think using it as a research tool to explain a concept you struggle with would be okay. It is not okay to have it write the entire paper, just like you can't quote an entire paper written by another person. I find the artwork part interesting. You pay to use Midjourney, so you own the art. I think you should be able to copyright it given that the "artist" isn't a person.

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