Academic research is continuously subject to technological innovation. In recent months, however, we’ve witnessed unprecedented advancements in AI technology such as ChatGPT. ChatGPT, underpinned by Large Language Models (LLM), quickly seems to be disrupting knowledge work of all kinds.
In this live discussion with academic leaders in computer science and AI, panelists discussed how AI might impact academic research. Academics already are using Chat GPT to co-author papers, with journals promptly banning the new practice, using it to write code for analysis, and summarize academic literature. Is this new era of technology different from the major technical innovations that have come before or is it just another step in the technological evolution facilitating academic research?
The discussion addresses topics such as:
- Can and should AI be used to create scholarship, such as write analysis code or co-author publications?
- And how might the viewpoints embedded in an LLM shape the research questions asked or perspectives communicated in papers?
- Will AI improve or diminish the accuracy of citations and knowledge dissemination?
- Will AI stifle or enhance research innovation?
- What might these changes mean for PhD training of researchers?
Related reads:
- On whether AI should author papers: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00107-z
- On what AI knows about research and science: https://nautil.us/what-does-chatgpt-know-about-science-291213/
- On machine learning to generate hypotheses: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31017
