Every time you do a Google Map search or use a self-driving car, you are using artificial intelligence.
IBM's definition of this new technology is: "Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and autonomy."
Even though it has its retractors, AI is here to stay. Knowing how to use it, notwithstanding its limitations, is crucial for anyone today.
"Artificial intelligence is a very real part of our present, and we interact with it every single day without even realizing it," said Soyeon Ahn, senior vice dean of academic and faculty affairs and research at the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development. "AI is not a distant concept; it's the invisible friend that assists our lives, a friend who remembers every movie you've watched, every product you've ever looked at, and every one of your likes and dislikes."
For academics and researchers, AI has been a game changer. Ahn, who is a professor in the Research, Measurement, and Evaluation Program, uses it along with her graduate students to stream through hundreds of academic publications.
"AI is now driving a profound shift in scientific research and clinical practices," she said. "In our own research, for example, a team of various experts—including researchers and undergraduate and graduate students—performs meta-analyses, a quantitative analysis of evidence from large numbers of scholarly articles.
"Traditionally, this process is incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive. By using existing AI tools such as SWIFT-Review, SR-Accelerator Deduplicator, and Abstrackr, we were able to screen over 40,000 references, reducing our labor by 53 percent and saving us over 90 hours of work."
The technology does have its drawbacks, warns Erica Newcome, STEM and interdisciplinary research librarian. During a Zoom session she offered to the University community, Newcome said that AI should be used as a supplement to research.
"There are some limitations," she said. "Most AI sites cannot go behind paywalls."
She also said that users of AI should be skeptical of all information. At times, the technology "hallucinates" or makes things up. The answer it gives sounds authentic, but it is not. That is why double checking the information and verifying its source is crucial.
For researchers, using generative AI can be extremely helpful. Newcome highlighted several AI tools—including Copilot, Gemini, and ResearchRabbit—that offer academics multiple ways to research and cross-reference their information.
However, checking all information provided by AI is crucial. Kent Lancaster, a lecturer at the School of Communication who teaches several courses on AI, said: "Yes, absolutely, you must check AI output, including the substance of what it reports and the sources it uses to support those results. For the areas I work in—computer source code, statistical analyses, and deep research reporting—it is straight-forward to verify AI results."
But he has found that AI is extremely helpful.
"From the perspective of my own research activity, AI has had considerable impact generating computer software source code, statistical analyses, and deep research reporting," he said. "The AI support in these areas is stunning in terms of the quality and quantity of output, produced at seemingly incredible speed, in comparison to what is humanly possible using traditional approaches."
Lancaster also said that "the more experience one has with an AI platform and topic, the better you learn to write prompts that generate the results you are after. The amount of training AI tools receive may build in inherent limits that even the most ingenious prompt cannot resolve. But aside from any inherent model limits, the user's ability to write prompts that get closer to the desired result may be a more limiting factor than the model itself."
To aid students and researchers in the use of AI, the University has subscriptions to several AI tools, said Newcome.
David Wayne, appointed as chief artificial intelligence officer last October, oversees AI for the entire University of Miami enterprise.
"Our commitment is to enhance our operational excellence through equitable access to AI," Wayne said. "Part of that is our commitment to provide free access to enterprise tools that cover the majority of AI use cases for students and researchers."
For a full list of enterprise tools available to the University community, check out AI Tools at the U. There is also a more comprehensive list of tools on the AI Research Guide.
University Libraries also offers Zoom workshops to help users become more familiar with AI tools. The next one is scheduled for Oct. 28, 2025, at 2 p.m. and is titled "Mastering AI for Research."
