FAQ: Can AI (like ChatGPT) generate a list of sources based on my topic?

What ChatGPT is

ChatGPT is a generative text artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022.

How ChatGPT works

• ChatGPT does NOT work like Google or the library databases.
• It does not search the Internet or the scholarly journals in the library.
• It learns using a snapshot of massive amounts of training data taken from the Internet from time to time.

ChatGPT and Reference Credibility

• Prompting ChatGPT to locate sources about your research topic will generate a list of references that may seem like legitimate citations to articles.
• ChatGPT references might be "hallucinations" and not even exist as published research. This is because ChatGPT does NOT have the capability to actively search the library databases and the Internet.
• Some references provided by ChatGPT may exist because they were included in the training data, but no distinction is made between real and made-up citations in the list generated.
• ChatGPT is answering the prompt with what it thinks are examples of sources relevant to your research topic.

Content authored by: AG/CD