Artificial Intelligence and Information Literacy: Hazards and Opportunities

While the technical definition of “artificial intelligence” is contested and generally refers to groups of different technologies, what is clear is that as of 2023 a new era of generative AI technologies has begun. AI systems have passed medical licensing exams, won art competitions, and are used in commercial applications to treat mental illness. This conceptual paper will explore the costs and possible benefits to such advanced technology with an emphasis on finding the most useful questions for information literacy (IL) professionals to devote precious time, resources, and energy on tackling. The time to develop the most pressing questions is now given the speed of AI development.