Literature searching with Artificial Intelligence 

While AI tools may be helpful to your research, there are many limitations to them, including: 

• They cannot access behind paywalls, and do not indicate what paid content UVic has access to (no "get this @Uvic" tag)
• They may struggle with under-documented subjects
• They have a lack of transparency and reproducibility 
• They have the risk of generating bias or incorrect content

Always ask yourself: 

• Are the sources the AI finds a complete list of results available to you?
• How accurate are the AI summaries, when compared to their sources?
• How current and relevant are the sources, to your research topic? 
• Where else can you search for reliable and relevant sources?

To maintain the ethical use of AI, it is important to: 

1. Always question and verify the output
2. Understand an AI tool's intended uses and the data it is trained on 
3. Consider the impact and possible consequences of using the tool
   For example:
   • Will using the tool oppose academic & research integrity?
   • What impact does the tool have on data privacy and intellectual property regulations?
   • What environmental impact does the tool have?
   • How strong is the tool's extractive nature? Is it disconnected with Indigenous data sovereignty?

Always check with your instructor, TA, syllabus, and/or publisher policies before using AI in your work.