Lisa Nielsen: The Progressive Educator: Asking Generative AI to Cite Sources

Within the “6 Tenets of Submit-Plagiarism: Writing within the Age of Synthetic Intelligence” Dr. Sarah Eaton explains that utilizing generative AI in writing will turn out to be regular. The writing course of has now shifted, and whereas AI could do some, and even most, of the writing, people are accountable for fact-checking, verification, and understanding the supply of the knowledge as relevant. Widespread generative AI instruments embrace Bing, Google’s Bard and Assist Me Write, and ChatGPT. Whereas you may get sources from every, they aren’t equally good at simply offering correct sources. Let’s have a look.Comparability of Generative AI Mannequin’s Potential to Cite SourcesGoogleGoogle’s Bard and Assist Me Write, do a mediocre to poor job of citing sources. When asking Bard to quote sources, it’s not uncommon to get a response comparable to: I am a text-based AI, and that’s outdoors of my capabilities.Or…I am unable to help you with that, as I am solely a language mannequin and haven’t got the capability to grasp and reply.With some further prompting, you’ll be able to typically get previous that, however even when it cites sources, it typically could cite an oblique supply. For instance, as an alternative of the direct supply, it appears to typically cite a supply comparable to Wikipedia. ChatGPTCiting sources, is often an afterthought with ChatGPT. In contrast to Bing, the sources are typically not embedded. Even when prompted, ChatGPT could record some sources, however they could or could not embrace hyperlinks on to that supply, and they’re typically not embedded in outcomes. Generally they’re inaccurate, so you have to examine and confirm them.  BingBing is at present the very best generative AI software in the case of citing sources. It can cite sources while not having further prompts and the sources are typically correct and direct. Let’s check out the weather of every because it pertains to supply quotation. Comparability Chart 

ChatGPT-4Google’s Bard / Assist Me WriteBingReal-Time UpdatesNoSometimesOftenStrengths in Citing SourcesCan be guided to incorporate citation-like buildings, however doesn’t inherently cite sourcesCan be guided to incorporate citation-like buildings in narratives, however doesn’t inherently cite sources. Even when guided, the sources are sometimes not direct.Will often present correct hyperlinks to supply materials.CurrencyCurrently solely has information up till September 2021 so info might not be probably the most up-to-date and correct.Not versatile in citing sources, although it does have the power to entry up-to-date info.Entry to real-time info. Strong at looking out up-to-date info.SummaryProvides the very best content material, however doesn’t present up-to-date and correct supply quotation.Supplies mediocre content material and solely typically offers dependable and helpful sources when prompted.Normally embeds correct, up-to-date and dependable sources with direct hyperlinks.The VerdictWhile Google and ChatGPT do a poor job of citing sources, every does have benefits. ChatGPT will present probably the most strong and complete response. Google’s Assist Me Write is sweet, as a result of it’s embedded straight into Google Docs, so you’ll be able to simply ask for assist whereas in a doc reasonably than having to go elsewhere. Nevertheless, in the case of citing sources, Bing is the winner. Nevertheless, the output isn’t as sturdy as ChatGPT, so it typically is smart to make use of a mix of Bing and ChatGPT for now.