Generative Artificial Intelligence for Students

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. 

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

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

	ChatGPT	Open AI Free version Includes (with usage rate limits): Search the web Computer vision (upload images and ask questions about them) Provide support files in your prompts Discover and use GPTs Canvas: work with ChatGPT to write and code Generate images Advanced voice mode (talk out loud and get spoken responses) Study mode Set "personalities" in Settings Deep research (limited use) Sora 2 for video generation (limited use)
	ChatGPT Plus	Open AI $20/mo Includes: ChatGPT Search for searching the web data analysis coding computer vision (upload images and ask questions about them) generate images  Canvas: work with ChatGPT to write and code Advanced voice mode (talk out loud and get spoken responses) Study mode Set "personalities" in Settings Create and use Tasks, Projects, and Custom GPTs Users on Paid tiers - Plus, Pro, and Team - have access to the model picker, which enables you to manually select GPT-5 or GPT-5 Thinking. Deep Research ChatGPT agent Sora 2 for video generation Enterprise edition for large businesses. Teams account for small business. Starting December 5, 2024, there is a $200/month version called ChatGPT Pro.
	Microsoft Copilot	Microsoft Free 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)
	Gemini (formerly Bard)	Google Free Includes web search results from Google. See Gemini plans: free, Google AI Pro, Google AI Ultra. College students get free Pro plan for 1 year. Both free and paid versions include 2.5 Flash for everyday tasks 2.5 Pro - best for complex tasks Image generation Guided learning Canvas for creating docs and apps Deep Research - for multi-page research reports  Gems Flow (AI filmmaking tool) NotebookLM (Paid versions include more of everything, plus a few extra features like coding assistants)
	Claude	Anthropic Free.  Claude Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, and Opus 4.1 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. Talk to Claude in the mobile app. "extended thinking" is their reasoning model, which can spend time trying different solutions before responding. Google Workspace integration is available to paid users in profile settings.  Research is now available for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans in the United States, Japan, and Brazil. (Toggle on the Research setting in chat). See pricing plans: free, pro, and max.
	Perplexity AI	Perplexity Free. Includes web search results, with links to sources. Offers "Focus" choices such as web, academic, social, or finance. 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. Both free and Pro accounts ($20/mo) allow a choice between several models.  Click the little chip icon in the search box.
	Meta AI	Meta Free, built on Meta Llama 4 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