Introduction to AI Literacy

Fact Checking Tips:

As you evaluate the accuracy and credibility of an AI tool and is responses, consider some of the following questions: 

Does it cite its sources? Are they real or hallucinations? AI can hallucinate or fabricate information, presenting imaginary or nonsensical statements as facts.

Who is the intended audience and what is the rhetorical purpose? Test how the tool's responses change if you tweak the context for your prompt. 

Recognize and monitor for bias. Use prompt engineering to test out and attempt to correct for its biases. What AREN'T you seeing? What voices, perspectives, and accounts of the world are over or under-represented?

Try lateral reading: Explore outside your source to verify its information. As Michael Caulfeld says in Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers, "Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). The truth is in the network." 

ROBOT

Reliability, Objective, Bias, Ownership, Type

Being AI literate doesn't require understanding the advanced mechanics of AI. It means actively learning about the technology and critically evaluating AI-related texts, especially news articles.

Two librarians from McGill University have developed a tool to help you think critically and assess the legitimacy of AI applications.

• How reliable is the information available about the AI technology?

• If it’s not produced by the party responsible for the AI, what are the author’s credentials? Bias?

• If it is produced by the party responsible for the AI, how much information are they making available? 

  • Is information only partially available due to trade secrets?

  • How biased is the information that they produce?

• What is the goal or objective of the use of AI?

• What is the goal of sharing information about it?

  • To inform?

  • To convince?

  • To find financial support?

• What could create bias in the AI technology?

• Are there ethical issues associated with this?

• Are bias or ethical issues acknowledged?

  • By the source of information?

  • By the party responsible for the AI?

  • By its users?

• Who is the owner or developer of the AI technology?

• Who is responsible for it?

  • Is it a private company?

  • The government?

  • A think tank or research group?

• Who has access to it?

• Who can use it?

• Which subtype of AI is it?

• Is the technology theoretical or applied?

• What kind of information system does it rely on?

• Does it rely on human intervention? 

     This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

To cite in APA: Hervieux, S. & Wheatley, A. (2020). The ROBOT test [Evaluation tool]. The LibrAIry. https://thelibrairy.wordpress.com/2020/03/11/the-robot-test

Other Evaluation Frameworks:

SIFT Method - Four steps to use when considering the validity of a source: Stop, Investigate the source, find better coverage, trace the original context.

ACT UP Method - Evaluate sources from a social justice lens by looking at their Author, Currency, Truth, whether it's Unbiased, and Privilege

The CRAAP Test  -  Evaluate sources according to these criteria: Current, Reliable, Authoritative, Accurate, and Purpose

Information Literacy Framework (ACRL) - Outlines six frames central to information literacy: Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, Information Has Value, Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation, Searching as Strategic Exploration