Using Artificial Intelligence in USU Classes

This page is intended to help you learn how to use Artificial Intelligence in any of my college-level courses. I recommend starting with the video and then looking at the resources below that.

In my courses, you can use an AI for the following:

1. Generate Ideas
   Ask it things like: "I'm interested in becoming an interior designer. I have to write a paper for political science on any subject related to American government. Give me suggestions on topics that intersect between interior design and U.S. government."

2. Get Background Information
   Let's say you're doing a project on Pearl Harbor, and you need to get a brief summary of what happened there. An LLM is your friend! Ask it something like: "I'm doing a research project on Pearl Harbor and I need a timeline of events associated with Pearl Harbor. Provide that timeline for me."
   Just be very, very careful - assume that you're seeing hallucinations until you've verified the info from a non-AI source!

3. Check Your Work
   Please, please, please run your finished products through an AI to check for basic errors before you submit it. You can enter a prompt like this: "The following is the essay I wrote for a freshman-level US History class. Please check it for proper grammar, usage, and spelling." Then hold shift and hit enter and copy and paste your paper.
   Note that AIs are NOT good at checking your facts - so don't rely on them for that!

In my courses, you expressly can NOT use an AI for the following:

• Writing any part your paper/project.
  I will have a quick post-essay assignment that will reveal whether you wrote it or had someone else do it. Don't have it write your paper for you!

• Summarizing articles.
  I used to think this would work, but it just doesn't work! Try it! Then try to find the information in the article. WAY better to just at least skim the thing.

• Provide research.
  It will hallucinate every time.

If you violate this second part, I have to report you to the university. That report goes to the dean, the department head, and into your permanent record, branding you a cheating cheater-pants for the rest of your university experience. Don't make me do that! I don't want to!

Note: We do not have an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with any of these companies (except SchoolAI), so you use them at your own risk.

I have a research paper checker in SchoolAI for the POLS 1100 research papers. SchoolAI is an API for ChatGPT (that's fancy-talk for it's ChatGPT with additional safeguards). I've asked the AI to check your research papers for things that students often commit errors on. Check it out here.

• ChatGPT
  My personal favorite.

• Google Bard
  I've found this one to be hot garbage, but maybe you'll have better luck.

• Microsoft Copilot
  This is the one the university has an account for. It wasn't opening this morning, but it's also a ChatGPT API. However, the university has a Copilot license, so you can use it to access fancy stuff.