Library: AI Literacy: Basics

Note to Students

Note to students: The use of AI tools and technologies in your coursework is subject to the discretion of your instructors. Please read the syllabus and consult with them regarding their policies on AI usage, including any guidelines or restrictions they may have in place for assignments and projects. For more information, see the AI@ATC tab below.

Basics

everywhere. AI is everywhere. Searching for something on Google? First thing that comes up is AI generated. Recommendations on Amazon, Netlflix, Youtube and other platforms? AI. When you use facial recognition to open your phone, that's AI. Hey Siri! I'm an AI too along with my sisters Alexa, Google Assistant and other virtual assistants. All this and so much more. Do you use Grammarly? It's a great tool for checking spelling and grammar, but be careful: if you use its rewrite and paraphrase features. your work is likely to get flagged by an AI detector.

Interested in what's out there? Check out the TAAFT (There's an AI for that) website.

AI literacy is the ability to understand, use, and think critically about AI technologies and their impact on society, ethics, & everyday life. This definition encompasses five interconnected components: Technical knowledge, ethical awareness, critical thinking, practical skills, and societal impact. AI literacy does not require the ability to create AI tools. Artificial intelligence is a tool that can aid learning and must be used in an ethical way.

Adapted from Lo, Leo. "AI Literacy: A Guide for Academic Libraries." College & Research Libraries News [Online], 86.3 (2025): 120. Web. 29 May. 2025

ATC's Academic Honesty Policy defines academic honesty as as performing all academic work without plagiarism, cheating, lying, tampering, falsifying, stealing, purchasing, giving, or receiving unauthorized assistance from any other person, or using any source of information that is not common knowledge without properly acknowledging the source.

One of the examples of academic dishonesty given is unauthorized assistance--giving or receiving assistance in connection with any examination or other academic work that has not been authorized by an instructor. This includes unauthorized use of a programmable calculator or other electronic device.

What AI can and cannot do

AI can

help you outline or brainstorm ideas
help you narrow down topic ideas or come up with good keywords for your database searching
write and debug computer code
summarize text and write test questions
potentially serve as assistive technology especially for neurodiverse people. You can ask it to explain topics, give analogies, definitions, synonyms and make outlines. You can paste in a text and ask it for a summary or test questions.
Yes, AI can generate content that may sound polished, but if you simply generate, copy & paste for your school assignments, it’s highly probable that your instructor will recognize the work as not your own.

AI can't

give facts or information about anything more recent than the date it was last programmed. The information is frozen in time
cite its sources or parts of its training. You don't know where the information came from

give reliable facts, statistics, or sources because it has a tendency to "hallucinate". This means it can give plausible answers that are actually incorrect. It is important to check any sources, facts or statistics

be assumed to be objective. It is programmed by humans with all our biases

AI is a tool. Its use requires critical thinking and the ability to question, analyze, and evaluate AI-generated information.