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Artificial Intelligence for Academics

A guide to compliment the workshop presented by the ELITE Consultants at Vogel Library.

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that uses computers to simulate human intelligence. AI systems can perform tasks like problem solving, decision making, and language understanding.

Basically, AI is an intelligent computer brain created by humans to assist other humans. AI is still considered in the development level of creation, meaning that it is not perfect.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) is split into 3 types:
    • Narrow
    • General
    • Super

Practically all AI and related tools encountered by people today are considered Narrowtools with very specific/limited features. 

General and Super AIs - AI tools that can perform all required tasks perfectly. Currently these tools do not exist. Though science fiction movies say otherwise, AI is currently very limited. No need to worry about a machine takeover just yet!

Most of us are familiar with generative AI in the form of a chat but it comes in other different forms such as generating an image or app codes. 

Machine Learning such as self-driving cars, virtual assistants, and image recognition software are examples of Limited Memory AI, which use past and current data to make decisions on actions.

History of ChatGPT

While many of us are familiar with ChatGPT, we may not know how it came to be.

ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an AI research company. It started as a nonprofit company in 2015 but moved to a hybrid non-profit/for-profit model in 2019. Its CEO is Sam Altman, who also co-founded the company. OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022. (Montevirgen, 2025)

As ChatGPT grew popular, many companies wanted to take advantage of that and sought opportunities to grow another branch in the technological development industry. ChatGPT inspired the development of other AI tools, such as Jasper AI. (Chen, 2023)

Some people began using ChatGPT to make money. For example, creating a children's book. This sparked great debate about the ethics of using AI to create creative works. (Nolan, 2023)

References

Chen, J. (2023, March 6). The CEO Of Jasper on how he built One Of The Hottest AI Startups And What’s Next For Generative AI. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannechen/2023/03/06/the-ceo-of-jasper-on-how-he-built-one-of-the-hottest-ai-startups-and-whats-next-for-generative-ai/

Montevirgen, K. (2025, February 11). OpenAI. Britannica Money. https://www.britannica.com/money/OpenAI

Nolan, B. (2023, January 15). This man used AI to write and illustrate a children’s book in one weekend. He wasn’t prepared for the backlash. Business Insider. https://www.proquest.com/pq1academic/docview/2765454788/citation/B4D56E4DF7EE4267PQ/1

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