12 Effective and ethical prompting

Know what happens to your prompts and uploads

You should assume that anything you prompt or upload to non-University licensed GenAI tools might not stay private.

In most public tools, the information you provide (your prompts and anything you upload) could be used to help train GenAI models further. This is often explained in the “terms of use” or “service agreements” for these tools. The University of Minnesota licenses GenAI tools that do not use your data to train GenAI models. However, even with these tools, you should still assess appropriate use and privacy. Even with University-licensed tools, your prompts and outputs remain in the system for days or weeks and you can’t delete them immediately.

It is generally harmless and fun to ask a GenAI tool for a recipe using ingredients from your fridge, or to create an image of Goldy Gopher in a dinosaur costume for a student org flyer, but it becomes very risky if you upload or include:

• Copyrighted materials (like articles or books you don’t own, this includes course materials, like your instructor’s slides).
• Personal information (names, phone numbers, social media handles) about people in your dorm.
• Secret or confidential data from your lab or job.

Do not upload materials created by others or licensed materials unless you have clear permission. For more information, read the Libraries’ “Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources Policy. Be sure to check with your instructors before uploading any course material that they have provided.

Key Questions

Is using a GenAI tool necessary?

Think about the questions (prompts) that you want to pose to a GenAI tool and how will you benefit from the capabilities that it offers? GenAI is not a search engine – so don’t use it like a search engine. Sometimes using a search engine or using a library database is a more effective step to find an answer. Recognize that GenAI has limitations. It may not be the tool that you need for the task at hand. GenAI tools sound confident, but they routinely generate inaccurate or bizarre advice. Relying on them for health issues, contract reviews, or legal advice can lead to real-world harm.

• Risky Use: Describing physical symptoms for a diagnosis or medical advice without consulting a medical professional.
• Safe Use: Asking GenAI to explain medical terms in plain English: “In plain language, what does ‘benign’ mean on a lab result?”

Are you creating your prompts to do work for you, or augment your learning?

A well-crafted prompt using a framework like ROSES can help you reflect on what you would like to learn or do with your output. You might realize that you are asking GenAI to perform a complicated cognitive task that really should be left to your own brain power.

• Risky use
  • Asking GenAI “Give me five sources on zombie ant fungus.” The prompt is not very effective due to the lack of information provided.  Not only are you likely to get a questionable response but the lack of thought and planning in your prompt shows that you are trying to offload the work of doing research to a GenAI tool instead of using your own brain.
• Safe use
  • A more specific prompt like, “You are a new researcher in ecology and have been given the topic of zombie ant fungus to explore for a research topic. Create five search strategies that you can use in an academic library database. Please craft the search strategies using Boolean operators like AND, OR and NOT as well as use parentheses and quotation marks around phrases.” will give you a starting point for further inquiry, rather than doing the work for you. It showcases GenAI as an effective brainstorming tool.

How will you feel if your GenAI output is published or seen by others?

GenAI can produce images, text, or audio that might accidentally infringe on copyright, mimic someone’s likeness, or present misleading information publicly.

• Safe Use:
  • Creating a flyer for your campus club using GenAI text to image features.
• Risky Use:
  • Generating a flyer with fake images of members of the club without their clear knowledge and consent.