Executive interview: Pros and cons of AI in academic research | Computer Weekly

"“AI [artificial intelligence] can create a 30-page research paper for you out of thin air based on fake science,” warns Jill Luber, chief technology officer at Elsevier. As a publisher of scientific and medical journals and papers, she says: “We've seen a major increase in “ fabricated science ” and it is our job to protect the publishing world from that.”"

"“Creating and publishing science that's not real clearly has implications because there's a level of trust with what you read in scientific journals, and if we start to erode that trust, I think that's when we're in real trouble.”"

"“AI can bubble up concepts and link together different articles,” she says. “Without AI's help, this would normally take a human hours and hours, and may even be impossible for someone to do.”"

"“AI can help us find and stop fake publications and fake articles before they get into our journals.” AI gives researchers the ability to dig through the content, understanding information it contains, finding connections and surfacing existing concepts. Just as significantly, Luber says, it also reveals what she calls “white space”, the information that is not covered in the research papers."

AI tools can support researchers by processing large volumes of academic literature and extracting concepts across many articles. AI can link related papers and surface existing ideas that would otherwise take humans hours or may be impractical to do. AI can also help identify and stop fake publications and fake articles before they enter scientific journals. Trust in scientific publishing depends on the reliability of what readers find in journals, and eroding that trust creates serious consequences. AI can reveal “white space,” meaning areas not covered in current research papers, helping researchers understand gaps in knowledge.

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