5 Hallucinated Sources
Student Learning Objective
- Verify the existence of referenced sources.
- Assess the quality of the sources.
- Generative AI programs differ in their ability to provide citations.
Many Generative AI programs that function as LLMs are vulnerable to “hallucinating” (inventing) facts in general; this includes sources, citations, and direct quotations. When assessing the credibility and accuracy of Generative AI outputs, students should pay particular attention to evaluating the sources provided.
Activity Steps
- Provide students with a Generative AI prompt that will result in the creation of a bibliography or output with citations.
- Ask students to use tools such as library databases and other search engines (such as Google) to verify the existence of the outputted sources.
Discussion Questions
- How did you verify the existence of the sources provided in the bibliography?
- Were any of the sources in the bibliography “hallucinated”? Why do you think this happens?
- If you were completing an assignment on this topic, do you think these sources would be your “best” option? Consider things such as relevancy, currency and accuracy.
Considerations
- Please refer to cautions that apply to all activities using Generative AI.
Example Prompts
- Create a bibliography with 5 recent sources on [topic relevant to your course]
- Create a bibliography of the five most important publications in [a topic relevant to your course]
