Generative AI – FAQ

Absolutely!

Learning and Teaching Services is available to meet with you to discuss the use of Generative AI within your teaching. Please use our bookings page to schedule an appointment with us here: https://www.algonquincollege.com/lts/book-an-appointment/

Additionally, Learning and Teaching Services will be offering Feedback Sessions and Workshops in the near future. Keep an eye on our Professional Development page here: https://www.algonquincollege.com/lts/pd/

There are many tools arising that suggest they can detect ChatGPT/AI use. However, AI systems continue to evolve and can adapt to circumvent the very methods employed to identify their usage. This results in potential false positives that the submitted work is AI generated. Furthermore, research has shown that GPT detector tools have been shown to be biased against non-native English speakers.

This memo from the Senior Vice-President, Academic at Algonquin describes these concerns around AI detector tools. They helped to inform the College decision to not purchase licensing for Turnitin’s AI Detector Tool.

Use of Turnitin AI Detector (January 2, 2024 memo)

When using other tools, there is privacy and security concerns related to uploading of student papers that include their personal information (e.g. names, email addresses, student numbers etc.)

Therefore, using GPT tools and detector tools to check for GPT-generated content is not advised.

Please refer to the following links on APA and MLA formatting of generative AI use:

Algonquin College Library: Citing AI Content by Citation Style (Note: there are additional helpful links on the top menu of this page)

APA 7^th Edition Resources: Citing AI-generated Content in Assignments See “Artificial Intelligence” tab. (Algonquin College Library, June 19, 2023)

MLA 9: Citing AI-Generated Text and Images (Seneca College, June 14, 2023)

Here are some of the most common language model tools available:

ChatGPT – https://chat.openai.com/auth/login – Free to sign up

OpenAI GPT-3 Playground – https://platform.openai.com/playground – Uses the same technology as ChatGPT, but allows the user to customize the output by changing the setting on the right toolbar.

Microsoft Bing (Copilot) AI – https://www.bing.com  Currently integrated into Bing Search. It provides a great option for using ChatGPT-4 (the most powerful GPT out there) for free.  Just click on the chat icon at the top right of screen. You can also use via the Microsoft Edge browser for more enhanced options.

Google Bard – https://bard.google.com/ – Currently unavailable in Canada, but is a major competitor in the language model environment.

Claude – https://claude.ai/ – Another well known language model environment, but currently not available in Canada.

Pi.AI – https://pi.ai/talk – An very interesting language model tool that is more conversational and human like. Additionally, they have added the ability to respond with audio using a variety of voices (activated by turning on the voice on the bottom right corner).

Perplexity – https://www.perplexity.ai/ The free version, based on ChatGPT3.5, is a great research option. Its training dataset include peer reviewed articles. Furthermore, information sources are provided within the query output.