Artificial Intelligence: A “Factory” for Producing “Fake” Scientific Studies

17th August 2024

2 minutes read

Artificial Intelligence: A "Factory" for Producing "Fake" Scientific Studies

Experts have noted that artificial intelligence is now creating what resembles “factories” for the mass production of “fake” studies, including scientific studies published in reputable journals.

According to Agence France-Presse, the recent retraction of several studies by some scientific journals has shed light on the existence of unscrupulous practices.

The agency reported that recent cases have confirmed the growing phenomenon of using artificial intelligence in the preparation of scientific publications, to the detriment of their quality. Some studies in specialized journals contain phrases that reveal their generation by AI-based programs or include, for instance, images that lack precision.

The agency also mentioned that some studies have been retracted, such as one that included an image of a human leg with more bones than it should actually contain.

However, these erroneous images are not the only issue; the more significant problems in this sector seem to stem from “ChatGPT,” the AI-based conversation tool developed by the American company OpenAI.

In early March, a study published by the British scientific publishing group Elsevier was widely shared on social media. The introduction of this study began with “Of course! Here’s an introduction to your topic,” a typical response format generated by ChatGPT.

The agency reported that several specialists pointed out that these embarrassing errors, which were overlooked by the experts responsible for reviewing studies before publication, remain rare and would not have passed the scrutiny of review committees in reputable journals.

It is often difficult to detect the use of artificial intelligence, but it is clearly increasing in scientific literature.

Andrew Gray, a librarian at University College London, conducted research on millions of scientific articles for words frequently used by AI tools, such as “precise,” “complex,” or “praiseworthy.” He found that AI had likely been used in 60,000 scientific articles in 2023, accounting for about 1% of the annual output, predicting a “significant increase” in this figure in 2024.

The American organization Retraction Watch noted that the number of scientific article retractions reached a record 13,000 in 2023. Ivan Oransky, one of its founders, stated that artificial intelligence now provides what resembles “factories” for the mass production of “fake” studies.

These entities produce a large number of low-quality, plagiarized, or misleading articles, according to Dutch microbiologist and expert in detecting fake images, Elisabeth Bik.

It is believed that these “factories,” which researchers pay to produce more work, are responsible for about 2% of the studies published annually. However, this figure is witnessing a significant increase due to the use of artificial intelligence, according to the same expert.