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AI: Tips & Tools from Your Librarians

Welcome!

Welcome to the University Libraries' Guide to AI!  You'll find some resources and tips to help you navigate AI and Generative AI (GenAI).  We have also compiled guidance from Virginia Tech and beyond for your reference.

Here are some starter tips for using AI tools for both students and researchers:

  • Consider if you need an AI tool - will it make your work more efficient or create more work from checking the output? (This can be especially true for citations - use a citation manger instead!)
  • Think twice about the information you put into an AI tool - if you would not post your AI prompts and other inputs in a blog, then they should not be in an AI tool either! Whether you are trying to protect your next great idea, working with sensitive data or copyrighted information, AI tools do use information further than your application... (VT's Copilot specifically does not train on your data).
  • Keep track of your AI tool use with dates, prompts, outputs, and tool in an external document (a doc or text file work fine!).  You might need to tell your professor or a journal about AI tool usage when submitting!

Have questions or need more in depth help?  Reach out to our AI Support Group!

NEW TRIALS: November 12th - February 12th

Also new this Fall - Prompt Library available: promptlibrary.cdrs.lib.vt.edu

Fall Events

  • Center for Digital Research & Scholarship (CDRS) Distinguished Lecture Series:
    • November 21st, 10 AM (register here): Dr. Qin Zhu, Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech.
    • Presentation Title: Generative AI and Value Change in the Classroom: A Critical Inquiry into the Ethical Implications of EdTech

Past Fall Events:

Get Started!

What is AI?

  network image in the shape of a brain with a light in the center  
Citing AI

word cloud including citations output cited and more
Resources, Tools & More

AI company logos from ChatGPT, Bing, Claude and Bard
Local & National
Guidance and Policies

Map of Virginia showing only major highways around Roanoke, Christiansburg and Blacksburg/Virginia Tech

Image credits: brain network from https://www.fmi.ch/news-events/articles/news.html?news=586; word cloud from https://libguides.mines.edu/genengineering/citing; AI logos for ChatGPT, Bing, Claude and Bard

Other Related Guides

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