Los Angeles Valley College Library: Generative Artificial Intelligence for Students: ChatGPT

What is ChatGPT?

One of the most popular AI tools being used today is ChatGPT, a "chatbot" that answers questions and prompts in any format that you request. It can carry out a human-like conversation or write various content such as articles, social media posts, essays, emails, and even code. Watch the video below [1:22] for more info.

Warning: ChatGPT is NOT a Search Engine

Although ChatGPT can deliver answers to questions in a way that feels similar to Google, it's important to understand that...

free ChatGPT doesn't refer to, quote from, or recall information from specific/actual sources.
it will appear to cite sources if you ask it to, but it does not actually "read" or "understand" these sources. In some situations, ChatGPT will make up entirely fake citations, sometimes called "hallucinations."
- Even chatbots that are connected to the Internet -- like Gemini, Copilot, and paid versions of ChatGPT -- can still have hallucinations and deliver false information.

Source: Brown University Library

List of Limitations

As any technology evolves, there will be weaknesses that need to be considered and impact how it can be used. These faults can also be improved as the tools are continuously developed and trained, so these limitations may change.

Generative AI and tools such as ChatGPT suffer from these downsides:

Inaccuracies or "hallucinations": There are many reports of false information in responses. This includes "fake" or "made up" citations when ChatGPT was asked to provide a list of sources on a topic. For an example of these hallucinations, read this brief article.
Potential downtimes: There may be times when is is unavailable due to many people using it at one time.
Not up to date: Unless the tool is actively connected to the web, it will not be trained on current information which will impact its responses.
Bias of the training material: Since the tools are trained on materials written by biased humans, the response may also be biased in some way.
Transparency of information/source evaluation: We are not able to know exactly what it is being trained on, or the validity of that information.
Ethical concerns: AI companies may be training their tools on copyrighted material and/or without the permission of the people that originally created the information.
Information behind paywalls: For those tools that do access the web for material, it still cannot access quality data that may be behind a paywall.
Limits on political conversations: Due to its capabilities to be used for nefarious purposes, many generative AI tools have "guardrails" which prevent it from answering certain types of questions, including those related to politics and other sensitive topics.
Environmental impact: the massive sever farms required to maintain these tools can have a negative effect on the environment with regards to climate change.

Source: Pace University Library

List of Popular AI Chatbots

	ChatGPT	Open AI Free As of April 2024, you can use it without creating an account. Additional features (with usage rate limits) Search the web (be sure to click on the globe icon in the search box to activate it) Upload images in your prompts Provide support files in your prompts Discover and use GPTs Canvas: a new way of working with ChatGPT to write and code "Reasoning" click the "reason" button in the search box to get it to "think before responding"
	ChatGPT Plus	Open AI $20/mo Includes: a new ChatGPT Search (as of Oct. 31, 2024) data analysis coding vision (upload images and ask questions about them) Image generation Canvas: a new way of working with ChatGPT to write and code GPT 4o with scheduled tasks (it can send you reminders) GPT 4.5 research preview (for writing & exploring ideas) o1 - advanced reasoning o3-mini - fast at advanced reasoning o3-mini high - good for coding and logic Build chatbots without using code. These are called "GPTs." Enterprise edition for large businesses. Teams account for small business. "Reasoning" models can spend time trying different solutions before responding. Starting December 5, 2024, there is a $200/month version called ChatGPT Pro. "ChatGPT Pro provides a way for researchers, engineers, and other individuals who use research-grade intelligence daily to accelerate their productivity and be at the cutting edge of advancements in AI." OpenAI has awarded 10 grants of ChatGPT Pro to medical researchers at leading institutions in the U.S.
	Microsoft Copilot	Microsoft Free, , built on GPT-4 Includes web search results and image generation. You can also generate images with Bing Image Creator or Microsoft Designer (log in with a personal Microsoft account) Copilot Pro Plan with more features for individuals (for personal/home accounts) Copilot for Microsoft 365 with more features for institutions and businesses. (not yet available at UA)
	Gemini (formerly Bard)	Google Free Includes web search results from Google. Gemini Advanced is also available with more features ($20/mo). uses a more powerful model you can try their experimental model, Gemini-Exp-1206 (good at coding and math) Generate multi-page reports with Deep Research Very large context window: Upload and analyze personal files, whole books, or lengthy reports - up to 1,500 pages of text.
	Claude	Anthropic Free. Also available in Slack. Claude 3.7 Sonnet includes: data analysis coding vision (upload images and ask questions about them) "Artifacts" - these allow Claude to share standalone content in a dedicated window separate from the main conversation. Tailor Claude’s responses to your personal style, generate a custom style based on your own writing. Pro version ($20/mo) Focused on reliability and safety. Web search has been added to paid version (as for March 20, 2025) No web search results in free version (yet). Trained on data through April 2024.
	Perplexity AI	Perplexity Free. Includes web search results, with citations. Offers "Focus" choices such as YouTube, Reddit, Semantic Scholar, and Wolfram\|Alpha. You can use it without creating an account. The feature called Spaces makes it easy to create your own knowledge base where you can search through your class notes, syllabus, and course materials. Generate practice exams or collaboration guides for group projects. See A student's guide to using Perplexity Spaces. Pro account ($20/mo) allows a choice between several models: GPT-4o, Claude, and others.
	Meta AI	Meta Free, built on Meta Llama 3.1 Includes web search results. Log in with your Facebook or Instagram account. You can also access the chatbot on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, or Facebook, by typing "@meta ai" within chats. Learn more.

Source: University of Arizona Libraries