Artificial intelligence (AI) is when computers are trained to do tasks that normally require human thinking and skills. "Generative AI" is a type of AI that can create new things like text, images, or music based on patterns that it has learned from its training data.

Generative AI tools can create things that seem really impressive. They can give you ideas and suggestions that you might not have thought of yourself. But they're not perfect, and you should think carefully and critically about anything produced by AI. Don't just blindly trust anything said or made by AI. Even though AI creations can look convincing, they don't fully understand the world the way humans do. They're just making educated guesses based on their training, so their output can be inaccurate, misleading, biased, or missing important information.

It’s true - using AI can make some work seem faster and easier. It’s also true that whoever is doing the thinking is doing the learning, and we want YOU to be the learner!

Some things that AI might be helpful with:

• Brainstorming ideas

• Quickly summarizing information or ideas

• Editing sentence structure, grammar, and word choice

• Finding sources for your research

You should avoid using AI to:

• Complete assignments or write essays for you. That would be cheating.

If you’re wondering whether or not you should use AI to help with your classwork, ask your teacher.  There are super helpful uses for AI in the classroom and other uses of AI that simply take away from your opportunity to learn.  Always talk to your teacher before using AI to complete an assignment. 

Remember, the quality of the AI's output is heavily dependent on the prompt, so taking the time to refine your prompts can make a big difference in the results you get.

Be Clear and Specific

• Provide detailed instructions so the AI knows exactly what you want it to do. Vague or open-ended prompts can lead to unpredictable or unsatisfactory results.
  
  

Give Helpful Context

• Include relevant background information or guidelines to help the AI understand your goals. This could include things like who the audience is, what tone or style you want, how long the output should be, etc.
  
  

Organize Your Prompt

• Break your instructions into clear sections or steps, using things like bullet points or numbered lists. This makes it easier for the AI to follow along and understand each part of what you're asking.
  
  

Test and Refine

• Start with a basic prompt, see the initial output, then adjust and expand your instructions. Trying different versions will help you find the right level of detail to get the results you want.

APA

In-text citation: (AI System Name, year)
Ex: (ChatGPT, 2023)

   Reference list entry: AI System Name. (year). Title of work. Publisher.
  Ex:ChatGPT. (2023). Generating effective AI prompts. OpenAI.

For an AI-generated work with a human prompt provider:

   In-text citation: (Human Name, year, as prompted by AI System Name)
  Ex: (Smith, 2023, as prompted by Anthropic AI)

        Reference list entry: Human Name. (year). Title of work (as prompted by AI System Name). Publisher.
Ex: Smith, J. (2023). Innovative AI-generated poem (as prompted by Anthropic AI).
       Anthropic.

MLA

In-text citation: (AI System Name, year)
    Ex: (Google Gemini, 2024)

Works Cited entry: AI System Name. "Title of Work." Publisher, year.
    Ex: Anthropic AI. "Generating Effective AI Prompts." Anthropic, 2023.

For an AI-generated work with a human prompt provider:

 In-text citation: (Human Name, as prompted by AI System Name, year)
    Ex: (Smith, as prompted by ChatGPT, 2024)

 Works Cited entry: Human Name. "Title of Work," as prompted by AI System Name. Publisher, year.
    Ex: Smith, J. "Innovative AI-Generated Poem," as prompted by Gemini.
  Google, 2024.

Notes:

• Use the name of the specific AI system if available, otherwise use a generic term like "AI system" or "generative AI".

• If a human provided the prompt or instructions for the AI-generated work, include their name and indicate the AI's role.

• Treat the AI system as the publisher of the work, unless a human publisher is specified.

Copyright laws are designed to protect creative works made by people. The law talks about "authors" of works, and this term only applies to humans - not to machines or artificial intelligence systems.

If a piece of content is made entirely by AI, without any creative input from a human, then that content is not protected by copyright law. The law only covers the parts of a work that were created by a person, not the parts made by AI.