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Generative AI and Information Literacy: Authorship and Authority

The goal of this guide is to help students learn about the relationship between generative AI and authorship and authority

Activity 2

representation of a brain made of computer circuitsSo what happens to the credibility of scholarly, peer-reviewed sources when researchers use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce  all or parts of their research? 

This isn’t an idle question—just like everyone else, more and more scholars are using generative AI to aid in various aspects of their work, including the writing of scholarly articles. Peer reviewers are also starting to use generative AI to aid them in producing their evaluations. 

Consider the following: 

  • What makes a peer-reviewed article credible in the first place? Why do professors require students to use these sources so often? 
  • Should scholars who use generative AI in the writing of their articles disclose this to readers in some way? If so, why and how? If not, why not? 
  • Should it be disclosed to readers if generative AI was used as part of the peer review process for an article? If so, why and how? If not, why not?