Arman Koch, a cybersecurity student at San Diego City College, was doing his math homework when he couldn’t understand how to solve an equation.
With no time left to visit the tutoring center, he decided to ask generative AI to help him break it down.
He heard that AI could be wrong, but with it being such an effective tool, he took the gamble.
“It’s a tool that you should be able to use,” Koch said. “With some limits, of course.”
With generative AI being accessible to everyone, and City College still adapting to AI, City’s librarians are trying to help where it counts.
At a recent City College Library workshop, “How to Fact Check AI Answers,” instruction librarian Jessica Wang spoke on AI literacy and fact-checking.
“AI is good at the really basic level stuff, which is what the students are usually using shortcuts for,” Wang said. “But then it gets like higher-level nuanced stuff wrong, and that’s when generative AI doesn’t work.”
According to Anthropic’s Education Report, about 91% of nearly 10,000 conversations on Claude AI did not exhibit any fact-checking of the AI-generated material.
The study was conducted by Rick Dakan, professor of Creative Technologies at Ringling College of Art and Design, and Joseph Feller, professor of Information Systems and Digital Transformation at University College Cork, to explore how university students develop an understanding of how to use AI through Claude.
Wang discussed how AI tools can be used as a resource for students to polish essays and offer explanations of complex topics.
But Wang warned it should not be taken as a fundamental principle.
AI-generated content should be regularly verified, she said, especially as it becomes hard to distinguish fake images, news and research.
According to NewsGuard, which tracks undisclosed AI-generated news and information websites, it has identified over 2,000 websites in 16 languages designed to spread misinformation.
Wang warned that as AI continues to evolve, students need to be more cautious of the spread of misinformation.
In 2024, the BBC reported Apple faced backlash over its AI-generated summaries of news headlines on its latest devices.
According to media reports, after receiving backlash, Apple paused the feature to work on updating it with a warning display that the summarization was written by Apple Intelligence.
International journalism bodies claimed it would not fix the problem because it just shifted the responsibility to the reader to fact-check the summarized story.
That’s why exercising questioning, confirming, and checking multiple resources to ensure students are getting accurate information, as well as employing media literacy, is important, Wang said.
For more information, students should check out the San Diego Community College District website for the AI student guide to make sure they are using AI ethically in their school work.
Students can also check out the City College library AI tools resource page.
The library is hosting more Snack N’ Learn this spring. Next up, “How To Find Sources Your Professor Will Love,” is set for Thursday, March 19.
This story was edited by Itzel Martinez and David J. Bohnet.
