Can volunteers use AI to create transcriptions?
Our system allows volunteers to paste in text from other sources and we do not prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools as a source of text. However, there are two questions to consider in using AI to help you transcribe.
1. Will the AI text be accurate and will you be able to tell if it isn't? We have found in most cases that AI is not as good as humans at transcribing. This is especially true with historic handwriting. It's also often hard to tell when AI is getting it wrong because instead of indicating uncertainty, it will put in words or phrases that *could* fit in a historic document -- this ranges from guessing a word wrong to hallucinating entire lines of text that do not match the original. It is very, very important that volunteers do not submit text without checking the accuracy thoroughly. If volunteers are using AI because they do not have the skills to transcribe the original text, then they probably also do not have the skills to check if AI text is accurate and therefore should not be submitting text from it.
2. What do you get out of transcription when you use AI? By the People has two equally important primary goals: creating text to enhance Library of Congress collections and inviting the public to engage deeply with primary sources and build skills deciphering historic documents. We aren't interested in trying to produce as much text as possible. We care more about volunteers reading closely, moving carefully, and truly taking in the history. When they do, they tell us that they gain a deep understanding of other time periods and events and, as a result, a new perspective on our own time. Transcribing also allows them to get better at reading and interpreting historic texts – a necessary skill for reviewing transcriptions, and potentially continuing on their research and learning journeys.