English

How should the advent of large language models affect the practice of science?

Computation and Language 2023-12-08 v1 Artificial Intelligence Computers and Society Digital Libraries

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) are being increasingly incorporated into scientific workflows. However, we have yet to fully grasp the implications of this integration. How should the advent of large language models affect the practice of science? For this opinion piece, we have invited four diverse groups of scientists to reflect on this query, sharing their perspectives and engaging in debate. Schulz et al. make the argument that working with LLMs is not fundamentally different from working with human collaborators, while Bender et al. argue that LLMs are often misused and over-hyped, and that their limitations warrant a focus on more specialized, easily interpretable tools. Marelli et al. emphasize the importance of transparent attribution and responsible use of LLMs. Finally, Botvinick and Gershman advocate that humans should retain responsibility for determining the scientific roadmap. To facilitate the discussion, the four perspectives are complemented with a response from each group. By putting these different perspectives in conversation, we aim to bring attention to important considerations within the academic community regarding the adoption of LLMs and their impact on both current and future scientific practices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2312.03759,
  title  = {How should the advent of large language models affect the practice of science?},
  author = {Marcel Binz and Stephan Alaniz and Adina Roskies and Balazs Aczel and Carl T. Bergstrom and Colin Allen and Daniel Schad and Dirk Wulff and Jevin D. West and Qiong Zhang and Richard M. Shiffrin and Samuel J. Gershman and Ven Popov and Emily M. Bender and Marco Marelli and Matthew M. Botvinick and Zeynep Akata and Eric Schulz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.03759},
  year   = {2023}
}