What if I can't find the citations that ChatGPT gave me?
Answer
Good for you for checking!
If you cannot find the citation, ChatGPT probably hallucinated it. The "G" in ChatGPT stands for generative- every time it answers a question it is literally making it up. So sometimes it manages to pull a real citation from out of the data pool, and sometimes it invents one. The only way to know which is which is to check against the school's databases [Website] or Google Scholar [Website]. Make sure you check the abstract as well. Even if the paper exists, it may not be about the thing you want to use it for.
Links & Files
- What is generative AI? Opens in new window
- Are generative AI models biased, and how can I avoid biased results? Opens in new window
- What is a hallucination in generative AI? Opens in new window
- How can I fact-check the information that ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) give me? Opens in new window