AI Resources

AI, in various forms, is increasingly popular with students, teachers and others. It can help generate story ideas and organize content. It can also create rough drafts of content that humans can review, edit and rewrite. But AI is far from perfect. It pulls information from the internet that is often inaccurate and adds quotes that are merely AI’s best guess. In short, AI is a tool, not a replacement for a writer’s creativity and craft – everything generated by AI must be reviewed for accuracy and should reflect your own voice. 

Many schools and universities have their own guidelines for using generative AI. Many allow a small percentage of AI use on work turned in. Others have a zero-tolerance policy. When working on a school project, or if you plan to submit a film to a festival, it’s best to consult the guidelines of the institution.  Here are a few samples of the notes and guidelines of prominent universities, followed by a list of popular AI programs, with some pros and cons for each. 

Harvard University

https://www.huit.harvard.edu/ai/guidelines

Northern Illinois University

https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/class-policies-for-ai-tools.shtml

University of Manchester, UK

https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/dcmsr/communications/ai-guidelines

Generative AI:

Grammarly – checks for spelling, grammar, tone and looks for instances of possible plagiarism. Can make tonal and stylistic recommendations. It has generative AI capabilities and can create writing from prompts.

Quillbot – an extension that can be added to a Chrome browser to check grammar, look for plagiarism, and detect AI (how ironic). It can paraphrase, summarize and add citations.

ChatGPT – The free version is useful for brainstorming ideas and generating rough drafts or emails. The copy often contains inaccurate information, makes up quotes, and sounds like it was written by AI so it will need a good deal of editing and fact checking.

Apple Intelligence – This is built into Mac computers, phones and iPads built since 2020. It can summarize lectures or group threads, help with choosing language, transcribe and summarize audio recordings. It can also create images in animation or illustration or sketch styles. Huge plus — it does not allow anyone else (even Apple) to access your personal data.

Microsoft CoPilot – This is powered by ChatGPT-4 and is accessed through the website or through the Edge browser. This will provide summaries of books and articles, give sports scores and write poems and stories. It will analyze images and you can ask questions with a microphone. Plus – it is connected to the open internet so you get real time responses.

Meta AI – This is convenient because it is built into our widely-used social apps — Facebook, Messenger, What’sApp. Can generate language, images and code. It’s connected to Google and Bing. It can work with multilingual text. CNET reviews called it “convenient but unimpressive,” when compared to ChatGPT.

Google Gemini – Paid and subscription – paid requires users to be 18+ years of age.  It can generate everything from social media posts to long-form pieces and video scripts. Reviews say there are not a lot of prompts so users should have a basic working knowledge of how to interact with AI. Bard AI is now Gemini as well.

School AI – This has spaces for students and teachers requires teacher involvement/supervision. Seems like it’s more beneficial to teachers for generating lesson plans, etc.

Graphics:

Canva and Microsoft Designer – Used for graphics, media posts, etc. Microsoft Designer is like Canva but the basic/free level may have fewer options and resources. Microsoft Designer works within the Microsoft system, while Canva is a standalone program — another plus.

Adobe Express (art) – Can generate images and text effects. People use this for animation or adding visuals to video stories. Users can design objects and add them to videos.

Descript - This is different because the interface works from the script itself. It can insert sounds from a sound library and work with video.

Additional resources for learning about AI and how it works:

Commonsense

https://www.commonsense.org/education/lists/lessons-and-tools-for-teaching-about-artificial-intelligence

https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/the-ai-education-project

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on AI:

https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/artificial-intelligence.html