(16 Dec 2024) Google Scholar turned 20 last month and Nature wrote a piece with the title “Can Google Scholar survive the AI revolution?” and quoted as saying “Up until recently, Google Scholar was my default search,” says Aaron Tay, an academic librarian at Singapore Management University. It’s still top of his list, but “recently, I started…
(9 Dec 2024) In many cases, AI systems gather external information to use as context when answering a particular query. For example, to answer a question about a medical condition, the system might reference recent research papers on the topic. Even with this relevant context, models can make mistakes with what feels like high doses of…
(27 Nov 2024) ChatGPT search—which is positioned as a competitor to search engines like Google and Bing—launched with a press release from OpenAI touting claims that the company had “collaborated extensively with the news industry” and “carefully listened to feedback” from certain news organizations that have signed content licensing agreements with the company. In contrast to the original rollout…
(4 Dec 2024) Japan is planning to implement artificial intelligence to police anime and manga pirating websites that the pop-culture powerhouse accuses of costing it billions of dollars in lost revenue every year. There are at least 1,000 websites illegally offering free downloads of Japanese content, mostly its globally renowned manga graphic novels, a group…
(4 Dec 2024) AI-assisted document query and summarization services are becoming more common. This post compares the ‘ask a PDF’ outputs of several services. Overall responses were good, with reasonable variation, and no significant hallucinations. It also touches on some characteristics of AI-based services. Lorcan Dempsey shares his observation on such services including Microsoft…
(16 Nov 2024) Most academics have used ChatGPT for parts of their work, and many keep using it to help with manuscript writing. While AI is nowhere near replacing human authors in academia, it can substantially speed up writing. But doing so risks your content being flagged as AI-generated plagiarism. To know what you can…
(4 Dec 2024) The paper mill crisis has polluted the scholarly record and eroded public trust in science. Miriam Maus of IOP Publishing shares her view from the front lines of the fight for publishing integrity. Katina has the interview in full here.
By Lukas Tschopp* (10 Dec 2024) Higher education is being fundamentally challenged by the introduction of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. In my daily interactions as a liaison librarian, I observe the erosion of core academic principles by these tools: Students using AI as an unreliable source of information, prioritizing polished presentation…
(20 Nov 2024) The RAND report examines the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on copyright law, focusing on the challenges of attributing ownership and protecting rights in creative works generated by AI. It highlights the complexities in balancing innovation with fair use and legal frameworks, emphasizing the need for updates to existing laws to address…
(11 Nov 2024) OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic all rely deeply on content from premium publishers to train the large language models, or LLMs, at the heart of their AI efforts, even as these companies have regularly underplayed their use of such copyrighted content, according to new research released this week from online publishing giant Ziff Davis. Ziff Davis owns…