The HardiBlog

  A post by Michelle Breen for the AI and Libraries seminar University of Galway, November 2024 A walk through any of our libraries observing student behaviours as they work on assignments or a chat to any students currently in third level will reveal the myriad GenAI tools that students are using for their academic work. A 2024 survey by Campus Technology on the use of GenAI by University students found that 86% of them are using GenAI (Kelly 2024). Even with the high costs associated with being a university student, some pay monthly fees for the premium versions of these tools, such is their value to them in their academic work. GenAI use by students in higher education is a hot topic. Godsk and Elving in their 2024 work found that many educators they surveyed shared concerns about the transparency, accountability, and reliability of ChatGPT answers and also confirmed that they are worried about permissible use and cheating . An IEEE study (Laato et al . 2023) examined a Bachel...

AI promises to change how we do work, including many aspects of how third-level institutions function. This includes research  — and research support. In this blog post, Oksana  Dereza , author of this guide to  AI for Research , delves a bit deeper into demystifying AI, offering ideas on how to support and what to say to the slightly-to-somewhat-more advanced AI user. Oksana is Digital Library Developer at University of Galway Library.  Since the release of ChatGPT, interest in AI has surged like never before. Businesses, researchers, and government bodies are diving head-first into the possibilities AI offers, eager not to miss out on what some believe is the next big technological revolution. This trend has grown so strong that many companies are now rebranding their software as “AI” solutions — a trend often called “AI washing.” But what exactly is AI, and is it truly the answer to all the world's problems?   Image source:  https://www.cortical.io/...