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AI Research & Literature Searching

A brief overview of some AI tools available to Mac students, staff, and faculty, as well as some information on when to use them and when not to use them.

Why opt out?

There are many valid reasons to not use AI for research. These reasons might be related to concerns about labor issues, environmental costs, lack of reliability, and even some of the cognitive processes that are important to learning but impeded by AI use.

If you prefer to avoid using AI in your research, there are a few strategies you can use to mitigate generating AI results. 

 

See also: AI Considerations

How do I turn off AI summaries in Google?

Artificial intelligence in research can be helpful, but there are many harms it can cause, as well. For those who do not want to use AI in their research, but are finding it popping up in a lot of places, there are sometimes options for excluding AI results in your searches. 

Ad hoc

  • Add -ai to your search

Change your Chrome setting

  • Open Chrome and put chrome://settings/searchEngines in the search box.
  • A new tab will open, go to Search Engine > Manage Search Engines and Site Search.
  • Click on the Add button by the Site Search update. A new box will open.
  • Fill in the form with the following:
    • Name: AI Free Web
    • Shortcut: @web
    • {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&udm=14
  • You’ll now see AI Free Web in the list.
  • Click on the three stacked dots on the right side of this new option. Select Make Default.

What does this do? “udm=14” refers to metadata about the type of search results -- this code makes it so you only see web page results


See also: TenBlueLinks.org

Resources for Critical Engagement

Artificial intelligence in research can be helpful, but there are harms it can cause, as well. For those who are interested in learning more and critically engaging in conversations about artificial intelligence, these resources can be helpful. 


See also: AI Literacy and Critical Thinking