Celebrating and understanding ‘research transformation’

"Research Transformation will look at the challenging AI future that lies ahead with an openness to transformation, and a willingness to approach these transformations collectively – both within organisations and across broader research communities. Across three themes, the new campaign aims to highlight research transformation in the context of how:

• Research data can be transformed into actionable insights;
• The changing role of research is affecting both those in academia and industry; and
• Exploring innovative ways to make research more open, inclusive and collaborative, will be of benefit to all..."

https://www.researchinformation.info/news/celebrating-and-understanding-research-transformation?utm_campaign=RI%20Newsline%2009-04-24&utm_content=Celebrating%20and%20understanding%20%E2%80%98research%20transformation%E2%80%99&utm_term=Research%20Information&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra

I don't believe there are any restrictions in the United States. As a general rule, the US doesn't like to restrict research. There are regulatory restrictions on microbiology, pathogens, and toxins, and last time I checked, the federal government would "not fund" any research on gravity. But as far as AI goes, I'm unaware of any restrictions. This is primarily because most elected officials in our Federal Gov't have a minimal understanding of how AI works, or how it can be used. Currently, they are relying on the advice of profit seeking business leaders for guidance. And those business leaders have scared the politicians with the potential dangers of AI. This scare tactic did not result in laws and protections from those threats, but instead resulted in those businesses supplying the politicians with advisors. Don't expect any Federal restrictions or regulations on what AI can research anytime soon.

In terms of ethics, about the only advice I can offer is to be completely transparent in the use of AI and its conclusions. In scientific research, this should already be understood, but in other forms of research, such as for an article, the standards may not yet be established. Hmmm. I wonder what would happen if I downloaded the Ultra-Space Field Theory into an AI and started asking questions? Thanks for sparking that thought!

Integrating AI in academic research – Changing the paradigm

"As artificial intelligence tools continue to evolve, their potential to transform academic research is becoming increasingly apparent. From facilitating comprehensive literature reviews and identifying hidden research gaps to analysing massive datasets and visually presenting complex information, AI is empowering researchers to tackle tasks once thought insurmountable. Amidst the excitement and promise of this new frontier, it is crucial to acknowledge the challenges and ethical considerations it presents. Reimagining the dynamic between human and artificial intelligence requires a fundamental recalibration of researchers’ roles and responsibilities and the cultivation of a collaborative ecosystem that integrates human ingenuity with AI capabilities...

As researchers navigate this transition, they may face challenges pertaining to authorship, intellectual property, and ethics. Higher education institutions must take proactive steps to address these concerns through collaborative initiatives involving the academic community, legal experts, ethicists and industry partners. Clear, adaptable and responsive institutional policies and guidelines are essential to ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI tools, to foster an environment conducive to human-AI research collaboration, and to promote best practices in this emerging paradigm..."

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2024050216043739

AI tools are mainly about extended memory capacity and speed on the information highway Christopher Ufuoma Onova , i.e. for the experienced researcher and master of a subject, it is advancing creativeness and innovation. For the novice in scientific research, it is better to learn the facts of a subject by automated programmed instruction, before using the speed and memory of artificial cognitive systems, because this requires learned human supervision, in terms of rational and ethical faculty.

With the move to digital devices we are coming to a point where people don’t need to remember anything, they have it all in the palm of their hand.

One complaint I have heard from professors and others is that the generation of young people now entering the workplace don’t know how to communicate.  They are poor writers and their coordination and collaboration skills are lacking.  Some of this would have to be a direct result their being wedded to their “digital assistants.”

We can get smarter, or just more dependent; this is definitely our moral choice, with respect to our freedom-of-choice.

_____________

"I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots."  Albert Einstein

The statement "AI algorithms can also inherit biases from the data they're trained on, leading to discriminatory or misleading results" is incorrect. The data is the state of society at the time and the results of statistical methodology. Other things can also affect output.

Additionally, the "black box" nature of some AI systems makes it difficult to understand how they reach conclusions, raising concerns about transparency and accountability

This should never be the case and anyone selling this has not developed ethically.

Fine webinar!

Responsible, academic AI for Web of Science researchers 

May 22, 2024 1 PM GMT "Artificial intelligence is transforming academic research, teaching and learning. Clarivate makes sure you can safely and responsibly navigate this new landscape while driving research excellence.  Join this session to learn more about recent and future AI-driven developments in the Web of Science, including significant search enhancements and the forthcoming generative-AI-powered Web of Science Research Assistant. We’ll discuss how we are implementing AI to help researchers at all levels navigate complex research tasks and get more out of the world’s most trusted citation database—Web of Science Core Collection..."

https://clarivatesupport.webex.com/webappng/sites/clarivatesupport/meeting/register/71aac71b679f44ec8723a12f6fd24b5c?ticket=4832534b00000007d19b7df0e3f4ae29b6a4605fbcb5bbc6e1384bb6e04d1097331e1fa561fbf0bd×tamp=1716195056891&RGID=r6e5feec3dc6865534bc8432b2fde90f8

Developments and challenges around AI and research integrity

"Divisions created between academic and research ethics are largely artificial and should be dismantled. Academia needs to work collectively and urgently to integrate academic and research integrity with AI, global ethics expert Professor Sarah Elaine Eaton told the 2024 World Conference on Research Integrity...

Nobody has a crystal ball. “What we know is that if we’re worried about ChatGPT today, we’re being short-sighted and we’re worried about the wrong thing,” she said, regarding problems such as cut-and-paste plagiarism and thievery of ideas.

“Because these concepts will continue to be challenged as we move into more and more complexities around AI-generated text versus human-generated text and who owns what..."

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240606132650214&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SPNL5010