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We should try to have a more nuanced approach to these tools, because students are tech-savvy and capable of these kinds od conversations.
Image generators, generative-AI search tools, AI tutors and assistants, Google AI add-ons- there are a plethora of emerging tools and an overwhelming amount of information facing school librarians as they start to understand AI, how to use it in their own workflow, and how to teach AI media literacy to their own students. There are issues we all can anticipate from past technology waves. How do we compensate for fear and misunderstanding about these tools? How do we interest librarians who are already overloaded? How do we keep up as professionals with the proliferation of tools and sort the wheat from the chaff? What do we do to combat algorithmic biases? What kind of instruction will our students/patrons need in order to be savvy users of new tools? As with other tools, we can barely envision the opportunities ahead, even just in the field of search. Jean Darnell, a librarian in Texas, sees a role for librarians in the tool development process by asking for safeguards: We can begin by asking developers to ensure that those on the team to train AI with training data are an equitable representation of minorities in tech, especially women and Black citizens. With this focused attention, the information training the computer doesnt uplift inaccuracies about health, culture, or further perpetuating biases.
As school librarians, we have an opportunity that we, perhaps, missed with Wikipedia. Initial reactions from librarians and teachers were to dissuade students from using it. While this wasnt necessarily bad advice at the beginning, we gradually learned to be better guides-to encourage students to consider editing articles and see the process, to teach them to look at the bibliographies, to read laterally in other tabs and compare, etc. With AI tools, how will we find the balance between providing caveats for students while teaching them the skills that will become important in using AI? We should try to have a more nuanced approach to these tools, because students are techsavvy and capable of these kinds of conversations-and, frankly, some of our students will shape the future of tools such as generative AI.
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