ALIA and a team of researchers at the University of Technology Sydney, led by Dr Heather Ford, are partnering in a pilot research project that aims to develop an innovative AI literacy programme for Australian librarians and library clients. The aim is to better understand the benefits and risks of using popular AI applications (such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and Amazon Alexa) to discover accurate information.

The pilot study is running across four library sites: UTS Library, TAFE NSW Library, City of Parramatta PHive and City of Sydney Darling Square public libraries.

The first output of the project was The Making of Misbehaving Machines exhibit. This exhibit demonstrates a chatbot that answers questions in unexpected ways. The group built the chatbot by developing a dataset of questions - from quotidian to unanswerable - and a set of prompts ranked according to their level of misbehaviour. Visitors could learn about how the chatbot was made through three simple steps. They could also ask what question they would like to ask of the misbehaving machines and rate its answerability and absurdity.

The exhibitions were launched in libraries in December 2024 and more exhibitions are planned for 2025. See the Misbehaving Machines website for more information and join the conversation on assemblage: https://assemblag.es/@misbehaving_machines

The project is being funded by UTS ($40,000 plus researcher time) with the support of ALIA, the State Library NSW and the Public Library Association of NSW. 

For more information about the AI in the Library project, contact: [email protected] or Associate Professor Heather Ford: [email protected]