4 Am I Cheating?– Ethics in the Age of AI(節錄)
Which is rarer nowadays, a student who has never used AI in their work or a fire-breathing dragon? If we had to bet our lunch money on it, we’d put our money on the student. In this chapter, we will walk you through some do’s and don’ts of using AI to help you slay, or at least tame, the thesiswriting dragon (since we’ve established that the chances of dragons existing are higher than those of a student who has never used AI). For many people, AI tools have become part of our lives, and that goes for Detective Surelock and Dr. Whatson too. Let’s see how they use AI to help them crack their latest case!
Surelock & Whatson: Episode 4
Detective Surelock started working on a tough case two days ago. On this rainy morning, Dr.Whatson arrives at Surelock’s house, only to find the detective already up and about, excitedly reading pages of notes. Dr. Whatson: What’s happening? You aren’t usually awake before noon!
Detective Surelock: I think I’m about to solve the case!
Dr. Whatson: How? This case isn’t in your area of expertise. For one, you knew next to nothing about Botany two days ago. How did you get up to speed so fast?
Detective Surelock: Well, I found a trusty sidekick in AI.
Dr. Whatson: What exactly did you do?
Detective Surelock: I asked AI to give me an overview of some Botany concepts I’ve. become a bit of an armchair Botanist almost overnight! I can even tell you the names of some experts and their key papers. For instance, there’s Dr. Ivy Leaguer who wrote “A Study on Depression among Weeping Willows.”
Dr. Whatson: What? That’s obviously made up!
Detective Surelock: Really? What about Dr. Bloom Diggity’s“Photosynthesis and Chill: The Secret Love Lives of House Plants”?
Dr. Whatson: Do you seriously believe that these are real papers?
Detective Surelock: Are you seriously saying that these aren’t?
Dr. Whatson: Of course not! Look, I’ll show you. *starts searching on academic databases* See? These papers don’t exist.
Detective Surelock: So AI lied to me? The knowledge I learned seems pretty legit though. Dr. Whatson: AI output can be based on real facts yet inaccurate at the same time. You always need to fact-check! Now it’s time to check that you haven’t been misled! Let’s go through your notes point by point.
Detective Surelock: Urgh. I’ll bet you’re real fun at parties. You’d make a big splash at the annual Botany Conference.
Dr. Whatson: Well, at least I know the difference between a real research paper and a plant pun. Now, let’s get to the bottom of this case, shall we?
Detective Surelock: Sure, let’s leaf through these pages of research, learn about their branches, and get to the roots of this mystery.
Dr. Whatson: Now your ideas are blossoming!
Hmm, it seems that Detective Surelock got too reliant on AI and threw caution to the wind! AI’s increasingly common presence in our everyday lives is proof of its usefulness. While it is undoubtedly a very powerful and even seductive assistant, especially for stressed-out grad students drowning in a sea of research papers, we have to be careful about how we use AI so as not to fall prey to the honeytrap.
Nowadays, new generative AI tools seem to appear faster than cute plastic rodents popping up from whack-a-mole machines. Thus, the focus of the chapter is not on recommending specific tools, for such knowledge and tips might become outdated faster than you can say “AI is taking over the world!”
Instead, we wish to share general usage guidelines to help you maximize the benefits that these virtual assistants could offer you in your academic writing and research endeavors, while steering clear of potential drawbacks like accidentally plagiarizing or having your thesis written by an unhelpful chatbot. In the following sections, we will explore the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI and how you can use it wisely to enhance your learning and research.
Which is rarer nowadays, a student who has never used AI in their work or a fire-breathing dragon? If we had to bet our lunch money on it, we’d put our money on the student. In this chapter, we will walk you through some do’s and don’ts of using AI to help you slay, or at least tame, the thesiswriting dragon (since we’ve established that the chances of dragons existing are higher than those of a student who has never used AI). For many people, AI tools have become part of our lives, and that goes for Detective Surelock and Dr. Whatson too. Let’s see how they use AI to help them crack their latest case!
Surelock & Whatson: Episode 4
Detective Surelock started working on a tough case two days ago. On this rainy morning, Dr.Whatson arrives at Surelock’s house, only to find the detective already up and about, excitedly reading pages of notes. Dr. Whatson: What’s happening? You aren’t usually awake before noon!
Detective Surelock: I think I’m about to solve the case!
Dr. Whatson: How? This case isn’t in your area of expertise. For one, you knew next to nothing about Botany two days ago. How did you get up to speed so fast?
Detective Surelock: Well, I found a trusty sidekick in AI.
Dr. Whatson: What exactly did you do?
Detective Surelock: I asked AI to give me an overview of some Botany concepts I’ve. become a bit of an armchair Botanist almost overnight! I can even tell you the names of some experts and their key papers. For instance, there’s Dr. Ivy Leaguer who wrote “A Study on Depression among Weeping Willows.”
Dr. Whatson: What? That’s obviously made up!
Detective Surelock: Really? What about Dr. Bloom Diggity’s“Photosynthesis and Chill: The Secret Love Lives of House Plants”?
Dr. Whatson: Do you seriously believe that these are real papers?
Detective Surelock: Are you seriously saying that these aren’t?
Dr. Whatson: Of course not! Look, I’ll show you. *starts searching on academic databases* See? These papers don’t exist.
Detective Surelock: So AI lied to me? The knowledge I learned seems pretty legit though. Dr. Whatson: AI output can be based on real facts yet inaccurate at the same time. You always need to fact-check! Now it’s time to check that you haven’t been misled! Let’s go through your notes point by point.
Detective Surelock: Urgh. I’ll bet you’re real fun at parties. You’d make a big splash at the annual Botany Conference.
Dr. Whatson: Well, at least I know the difference between a real research paper and a plant pun. Now, let’s get to the bottom of this case, shall we?
Detective Surelock: Sure, let’s leaf through these pages of research, learn about their branches, and get to the roots of this mystery.
Dr. Whatson: Now your ideas are blossoming!
Hmm, it seems that Detective Surelock got too reliant on AI and threw caution to the wind! AI’s increasingly common presence in our everyday lives is proof of its usefulness. While it is undoubtedly a very powerful and even seductive assistant, especially for stressed-out grad students drowning in a sea of research papers, we have to be careful about how we use AI so as not to fall prey to the honeytrap.
Nowadays, new generative AI tools seem to appear faster than cute plastic rodents popping up from whack-a-mole machines. Thus, the focus of the chapter is not on recommending specific tools, for such knowledge and tips might become outdated faster than you can say “AI is taking over the world!”
Instead, we wish to share general usage guidelines to help you maximize the benefits that these virtual assistants could offer you in your academic writing and research endeavors, while steering clear of potential drawbacks like accidentally plagiarizing or having your thesis written by an unhelpful chatbot. In the following sections, we will explore the strengths and weaknesses of generative AI and how you can use it wisely to enhance your learning and research.
