Fact-Checking Generative AI and Avoiding Plagiarism

For a detailed understanding of Unity’s stance on the use of generative AI in your studies, please read through Unity’s Policy on Generative AI use by Students in Distance Education.

Does this sound familiar? 

You’re chatting with a friend and they mention that they’ve started using Generative AI like ChatGPT to help write their essays for school. It’s saving them a ton of time and improving their writing. A few days later, it’s Sunday night and you have a long academic report due. You are only halfway done writing it and you are worried you won’t finish on time – you are STRESSED.

You remember your friend’s experience using ChatGPT and you think maybe you could use it to help you write the final few paragraphs of your report. As you enter a simple prompt, you discover that ChatGPT is incredibly easy to use and you throw a few AI generated paragraphs at the end of your essay, then hit submit.

A week later, you receive your grade – it is disappointingly low and comes with a message from your instructor: 

“While we permit the use of generative AI in our courses, you are accountable for ensuring the accuracy of factual statements and citations produced by generative AI, because it may be inaccurate, or even false. Therefore, you should review and verify all such information prior to submitting any assignment. I saw some inaccuracies in your writing that you should have double-checked.”

AI tools like ChatGPT can be powerful, but they aren’t perfect. Generative AI tools use patterns and are trained on algorithms that gather information from a range of sources like private and public data and vast amounts of internet text, but it doesn’t truly “know” facts or truth.

Sometimes AI can be wrong (and confidently so!)

Just like you wouldn’t trust information posted by a random person on social media without double-checking it, you shouldn’t blindly trust AI either.

IMPORTANT: Generative AI does not tell you when it is wrong. It can present false or misleading information as if it were true – without warning.

This is because: 

• AI models are susceptible to the biases and inaccuracies present in the data they use.  
• Sometimes AI scrambles to make up answers for prompts it does not understand or have knowledge of.

Examples of AI Inaccuracies:

• Outdated Information – AI may not know about recent developments.
• Oversimplified Explanations – Complex issues may be flattened or distorted.
• Fabricated Facts – AI can make up “plausible-sounding” answers to fill gaps.
• Misinterpreted Data – It may get statistics or analysis wrong.
• Bias and Generalizations – AI reflects biases from the internet and other sources.
• Incorrect Math – Even basic calculations can be wrong.
• Fake or Misquoted References – AI often makes up citations or quotes.
• Fiction as Fact – AI can’t tell real from made-up content and may present both the same way.

It is up to you to assess the reliability of information provided in generative AI outputs!

Best Practices for Fact-Checking AI

Step 1: Understand What Constitutes Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without giving proper credit. This includes copying text verbatim, paraphrasing too closely, or using ideas without acknowledgment. Using AI to copy, paraphrase, or directly reproduce someone else’s work and presenting it as one’s own is a violation of the Unity DE program’s Honor Code

Step 2: Always Cite Your Sources

When you use AI-generated content, you must verify and cite the ideas within it just as you would for any other source. Generative AI is not a reliable or citable source by itself, so if AI gives you ideas, you must:

• Verify them using real sources
• Cite the original source, not the AI

Most assignments require you to use in-text citations to acknowledge the origin of ideas. It is your responsibility to include these citations and to verify their source and appropriateness.

Step 3: Beware of Fabricated or Inaccurate Citations from AI

Generative AI tools may “hallucinate” sources. If you ask an AI tool to “add citations” or “give references” for a topic, it might provide real-looking but completely fake citations, or real ones that don’t say what the AI claims they do. This is called citation fabrication or misattribution, and it’s a form of academic falsification.

Avoid this practice. Instead, follow this method:

• Do your own research. Find your sources in databases like JSTOR, PubMed, Google Scholar, or other resources in the Unity library.
• Keep source notes. Make a simple notes document where you track which ideas came from which sources.
• Verify citations yourself. If AI suggests a source, check the original article or book before using or citing it.

Tip: If you can’t find the citation through a quick search in a library database or Google Scholar, it probably doesn’t exist.

Remember: Using a fake or incorrect citation (even by accident) is still your responsibility and can count as academic dishonesty.

Step 4: Use Plagiarism Detection Tools

Generative AI may include copied content from other sources. To avoid unintentional plagiarism:

• Run your draft through a plagiarism checker like Grammarly or Copyscape.
  (Note: These tools are helpful but not foolproof.)
• Review your own work carefully. If a fact, idea, or quote is included without a citation, find a source, or remove it.

Step 5: Keep Records of Your AI Interactions

It is a good practice to save transcripts of your AI chats. This information can help you track your use of AI and recognize successful and unsuccessful strategies based upon feedback provided by your instructor.

Tips: Be Skeptical and Curious!

• Don’t just copy and paste!
• Always question the information and dig deeper. 
• Read and revise to ensure clarity and meaning.
• If something looks or sounds off in an AI output, it probably is. 
• You’re responsible for what you submit, no matter the tool you use.
• Always verify. Always cite. Always check.

Illustrations by Storyset.