I totally see why you are worried about all the aspects AI introduces, especially regarding bias and the authenticity of generated content. My main gripe, though, is with the oversight (or lack thereof) in the peer review process. If a journal can’t even spot AI-generated images, it raises red flags about the entire paper’s credibility, regardless of the content’s origin. It’s not about AI per se. It is about ensuring the integrity of scholarly work. Because realistically speaking, how much of the paper itself is actually good or valid? Even more interesting, and this would bring AI back in the picture. Is the entire paper even written by a human or is the entire thing fake? Or maybe that is also not interesting at all as there are already tons of papers published with other fake data in it.
People that actually don’t give a shit about the academic process and just care about their names published somewhere likely already have employed other methods as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a paper out there with equally bogus images created by an actual human for pennies on Fiverr.
The crux of the matter is the robustness of the review process, which should safeguard against any form of dubious content, AI-generated or otherwise. Which is what I also said in my initial reply, I am most certainly not waving hands and saying that review is enough. I am saying that it is much more likely the review process has already failed miserably and most likely has been for a while.
I am most certainly not waving hands and saying that review is enough
Apologies, that’s what it sounded like to me. You said it’s clickbait. You said the title would work without AI in the title. You also said that AI generation isn’t relevant. That felt like diminishing the conversation - focusing in on what you’re most concerned about, and dismissing all other discussions. I don’t think that helps discussion happen. It discourages it. It says that we shouldn’t talk about the problems present here which exist outside the realm of just the review process.
For example, both of the figures do have a description, but neither of them have any kind of attribution. The review process might ensure it is factual when it is followed and still let through material such as that you’ve laid out above which do not involve AI - like hiring someone off of fiverr. One way to solve this would be with image attribution. As I mentioned above, simply requiring that an image explain where it came from, such as requiring attribution to the artist who created the figure or requiring that the software used be attributed (perhaps even requiring the full prompt for generated images) are all methods through which we can ensure scientific rigor (and accurate attribution) which will both help ensure the review process catches problematic material and cues the readers in to key information about the figures present in research.
I said clickbait about the AI specific thing. Which I do stand by. To be more direct, if peer reviewers don’t review and editors don’t edit you can have all the theoretical safeguards in place, but those will do jack shit. Procedures are meaningless if they are not being followed properly.
Attributions can be faked, just like these images are now already being faked. If the peer review process is already under tremendous pressure to keep up for various reasons then adding more things to it might actually just make things worse.
I totally see why you are worried about all the aspects AI introduces, especially regarding bias and the authenticity of generated content. My main gripe, though, is with the oversight (or lack thereof) in the peer review process. If a journal can’t even spot AI-generated images, it raises red flags about the entire paper’s credibility, regardless of the content’s origin. It’s not about AI per se. It is about ensuring the integrity of scholarly work. Because realistically speaking, how much of the paper itself is actually good or valid? Even more interesting, and this would bring AI back in the picture. Is the entire paper even written by a human or is the entire thing fake? Or maybe that is also not interesting at all as there are already tons of papers published with other fake data in it. People that actually don’t give a shit about the academic process and just care about their names published somewhere likely already have employed other methods as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a paper out there with equally bogus images created by an actual human for pennies on Fiverr.
The crux of the matter is the robustness of the review process, which should safeguard against any form of dubious content, AI-generated or otherwise. Which is what I also said in my initial reply, I am most certainly not waving hands and saying that review is enough. I am saying that it is much more likely the review process has already failed miserably and most likely has been for a while.
Which, again to me, seems like the bigger issue.
Apologies, that’s what it sounded like to me. You said it’s clickbait. You said the title would work without AI in the title. You also said that AI generation isn’t relevant. That felt like diminishing the conversation - focusing in on what you’re most concerned about, and dismissing all other discussions. I don’t think that helps discussion happen. It discourages it. It says that we shouldn’t talk about the problems present here which exist outside the realm of just the review process.
For example, both of the figures do have a description, but neither of them have any kind of attribution. The review process might ensure it is factual when it is followed and still let through material such as that you’ve laid out above which do not involve AI - like hiring someone off of fiverr. One way to solve this would be with image attribution. As I mentioned above, simply requiring that an image explain where it came from, such as requiring attribution to the artist who created the figure or requiring that the software used be attributed (perhaps even requiring the full prompt for generated images) are all methods through which we can ensure scientific rigor (and accurate attribution) which will both help ensure the review process catches problematic material and cues the readers in to key information about the figures present in research.
I said clickbait about the AI specific thing. Which I do stand by. To be more direct, if peer reviewers don’t review and editors don’t edit you can have all the theoretical safeguards in place, but those will do jack shit. Procedures are meaningless if they are not being followed properly.
Attributions can be faked, just like these images are now already being faked. If the peer review process is already under tremendous pressure to keep up for various reasons then adding more things to it might actually just make things worse.