Skip to Main Content
QUL logo

Artificial Intelligence

Artifical Intelligence and the research process

The CARL Digital Literacy Framework was created for Canadian research libraries to define their roles in an increasingly complex digital world. It reflects what an AI-literate student understands and is able to do.

Discovering Digital Information

The AI-literate student understands:

The AI-literate student is able to: 

The range of relevant software, apps, digital tools, and content.

How programs, systems, and networks operate.

The distinctions between generative AI tools used for creation and those use

Select and use appropriate software, apps, and AI tools to search effectivelyand purposefully.

Formulate successful search strategies using appropriate tools and technologies.

Apply critical distinctions among discovery tools. for discovery and literature searching.

Understanding How Digital Information is Produced and Valued

How algorithms work and how biases built into digital tools influence the outcome of AI generated searches.

The training process that AI technology uses to predict and generate new content.

How to control AI tools’ access to and use of prompts and other personal data

Identify the corpus of data an AI tool uses to inform its output; what data has trained the AI tool.

Think critically about the business models and other potential motivations associated with AI development and the potential influence on AI output.

Collect, manage, access, and protect digital data

Applying Digital Information in Creating New Knowledge

Intellectual property (IP), copyright, and licensing essentials.

The methods and strategies that a user employs with an AI tool can influence the results.

Use digital technologies and techniques to develop new ideas, projects and opportunities.

Think critically about methods used to generate output from an AI tool.

Participating Ethically in Learning, Work, and Civic Life

There are biases and inaccuracies that can be seen in the outputs created by AI tools.

Copyright implications when engaging with the development of AI tools or with using AI tools.

Plagiarism and giving credit for content generated by AI.

Think critically about the results produced by AI tools, and understand the social impact of relying on biased results.

Develop and use AI tools within a legal Copyright framework.

To cite AI generated content properly.

The CARL Digital Literacy Framework,  Canadian Association of Research Libraries. April 2024