LLMs & AI tools

Artificial intelligent (AI) driven language processing tools, have recently received more attention – both in the wider public, as well as in the scientific community. Their widespread availability and usage have caused both hopes and fears regarding their long-term impact on publishing, authorship, and scientific writing. Publishers and research institutions are currently trying to come up with regulations and best-practice guides, and the discussion is still very much at its beginning.

Lecture series: AI tools & LLMs

As the demand for information and better understanding of  AI tools, their capabilities, limitations and implications for academia and the publishing domain continues to surge, Lib4RI is excited to organise a lecture series in October and November 2023!

Details

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformer) is a publicly free-available, language-processing tool that is driven by AI. The software is trained to react to requests made by users and reply thoroughly. When asked to describe itself in a short summary, ChatGPT replied the following:

"Certainly! I am ChatGPT, a large language model created by OpenAI. My main function is to process natural language input and generate human-like responses in a wide range of topics. I have been trained on a massive corpus of text data and have the ability to understand context, interpret language nuances, and generate coherent and sensible responses. Whether you need help with a homework question, want to learn about a new topic, or just want to chat, I'm here to assist you."

In other words, ChatGPT uses large language models (LLMs) fine-tuned by supervised and reinforcement learning techniques to recognise patterns and create new text based on it.

AI tools in scientific writing

Since its creation discussions related to the usage of ChatGPT in scientific writing have greatly increased; regulations are being defined and its advantages and limitations evaluated. For more information, read these latest studies regarding the usage of ChatGPT in scientific writing:

Information from institutions and publishers

As institutions and publishers have to face the fact that authors may use ChatGPT to (help) write scientific articles, they begin to set up guidelines, best practices and regulations regarding its usage. Here are some examples of information from publishers and Swiss universities:

  • ETH Zürich (information about ChatGPT - no regulations yet)
  • ETH Zürich (information about AI and academic integrity - meant as a conversation, not an official regulation)
  • Bern University (blog about ChatGPT)
  • Bern University (FAQs and official guidelines)
  • ZHAW (blog including official guidelines for the use of generative AI systems)
  • University of Geneva (article about ChatGPT)
  • American Geophysical Union AGU (Report on use of AI in Earth, Space and Environmental Sciences)
  • Springer Nature (allows the usage of AI generated content which is transparent, but not adding the tool as a co-author)
  • Science (does not allow the usage of AI generated content)
  • Elsevier (FAQ on ChatGPT usage)
  • Wiley (allows the usage of AI generated content which is transparent, but not adding the tool as a co-author)
  • Taylor & Francis (allows the usage of AI generated content which is transparent, but not adding the tool as a co-author)

Further resources