AI has infiltrated scientific research papers – and a handful of words reveal that scientists may have received writing help from ChatGPT.
A new study from Stanford University published in arXiv suggests that since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, researchers have steadily increased the frequency with which they support AI in academic writing.
In the first large-scale study of how AI has impacted scientific writing, Stanford researchers analyzed nearly one million articles published in arXiv, bioRxiv and Nature from January 2020 to February 2024.
They looked for specific words that AI uses frequently, words that have become increasingly popular since ChatGPT launched: “rich,” “complicated,” “presentational,” and “crucial.”
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Their findings, published in April, showed that AI use increased by 6.3% to 17.5% over time.
The fastest growth was in the computer science department, where abstracts and introductions with commonly used AI words increased to 17.5% and 15.3%, respectively, by February 2024.
The increasing popularity of four common words used more often by AI than by humans in arXiv computer science summaries. Photo credit: Stanford University article titled “Mapping the Increasing Use of LLMs in Scientific Papers”
The researchers suggested that computer science may have grown the fastest because academics in that department may have been more familiar with ChatGPT and had better access to AI models.
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It’s not just the Stanford study: Dr. Jeremy Nguyen, a senior researcher and lecturer at Swinburne Business School in Australia, shared specific findings on medical papers that showed a possible rise in AI writing.
Nguyen wanted all PubMed articles published in the last 34 years for another popular word used by ChatGPT: “delve”.
He noted a notable increase in research articles using the word, suggesting that AI was being used to write these articles.
Are medical studies written with ChatGPT?
Well, we all know that ChatGPT overuses the word “immersion”.
Take a look below at how often the word “delve” is used in articles on PubMed (2023 was ChatGPT’s first full year). pic.twitter.com/iNxZfFLkxL
— Jeremy Nguyen ✍? ? (@JeremyNguyenPhD) March 30, 2024
Scientists are under increasing pressure to publish, particularly because researchers are ranked based on how often their articles are cited. In certain disciplines such as AI research, this pressure can be greater.
“The fast pace of [AI] Research and the associated pressure to publish quickly can provide an incentive for use [AI] Writing support,” the Stanford researchers explained.
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