GenAI in Academic Research: Four years later, where do we stand?
GenAI in Academic Research: Four years later, where do we stand?
Almost four years after GenAI/LLMs entered the mainstream, these technologies have become increasingly embedded in academic research. In an environment with mixed reactions, the debate has evolved as researchers have gained first-hand experience with what GenAI can, and more importantly, cannot do.
Four years later, where do we stand? And, more importantly, where should we be heading?
This event brings together researchers and experts to take stock of how generative AI is changing academic research and to critically consider what should come next. Through a keynote and an interactive panel discussion, we will explore questions around the impact of LLMs in academic research (data analysis, writing, peer review), grant applications, the impacts on PhD candidates and ECRs, digital autonomy, among others.
The event will focus on what kind of academic research environment we want to build as these technologies continue to evolve.
The event is open to researchers across disciplines and career stages, as well as to academic staff and the general audience interested in the topic. Whether you use LLMs or remain critical of its role in research, we invite you to join the conversation.
Keynote speaker:
Title: Responsible Realism and Critical AI
Prof Dagmar Monett, Professor of Computer Science at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin) and Director of the Computer Science Division at the Department of Cooperative Studies Business and Technology. She is also a Co-Founding Member of the Institute for Data-Driven Digital Transformation (d-cube, HWR Berlin) and a Board member of the Berlin Federation of Professors.
Description:
The latest developments in the field of AI have influenced the way people think of and interact with digital technologies—degenerative “AI” included, but not only—as well as what these artefacts can do in the present or will be able to do in the future. Anthropomorphic and dystopian views place them at the level of humans or above, attributing to them intelligent capabilities they do not possess. But, are these machines (apps, software, robots, chatbots, etc.) comparable to humans or intelligent?
On the one hand, the hype around their capabilities is higher than ever and fuels unrealistic narratives and expectations from which even AI practitioners and researchers cannot easily escape. Technological determinism and inevitability drive then the industry rhetoric, capturing users and forcing adoption even in settings where AI is not apt for application. On the other hand, institutions and individuals acknowledge the harms, risks, and shortcomings of AI systems; yet, simultaneously, encourage responsible adoption and use while delegating ethical responsibility to individual end users, thereby eschewing systemic and structural issues, as well as collective responsibility. This is a paradox embodied in Responsible Realism, which is an instance of ethics washing and obfuscates accountability.
How to deal with these issues critically? Shouldn’t a critical stance on AI precede adoption? Critical and informed decision making are essential for shaping how we interact with and what we get out of AI-based tools, but being aware of the harms alone does not reduce them.
This talk aims to reach a common understanding of Responsible Realism, Critical AI, and related terminology, concepts that will be explained in the scope of concrete examples. Special attention will be dedicated e.g. to the harms and unethical implications that arise when using AI-based tools in education, particularly those that are incompatible with academic integrity.
Panelists:
Dr Melina Aarnikoivu, PhD Academy Coordinator and Instructor for the Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Prof Oskar Gstrein, Chair Data Governance & Digital Autonomy at Campus Fryslan; Programme Director BSc Data Science & Society; Member 'Alliance for Digital Autonomy'
Dr Marcela Suarez Estrada, Lecturer in Critical Intersectional Perspectives on AI at the School of Artificial Intelligence at Radboud University and co-author of the position paper “Against the Uncritical Adoption of “AI” Technologies in Academia”
Prof Ramses A. Wessel, Professor of European Law and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Groningen
Moderator:
Dr Tais Fernanda Blauth, Assistant Professor of Governance and Technology at Campus Fryslan, University of Groningen