Artificial intelligence in scientific writing: a friend or a foe?

Signe Altmäe; Alberto Sola-Leyva; Andres Salumets

doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2023.04.009

Artificial intelligence in scientific writing: a friend or a foe?

Reprod Biomed Online. 2023 Jul;47(1):3-9. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2023.04.009. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Authors

Signe Altmäe¹, Alberto Sola-Leyva², Andres Salumets³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain; Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: signealtmae@ugr.es.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
³ Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Competence Centre on Health Technologies, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

PMID: 37142479
DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2023.04.009

Abstract

The generative pre-trained transformer, ChatGPT, is a chatbot that could serve as a powerful tool in scientific writing. ChatGPT is a so-called large language model (LLM) that is trained to mimic the statistical patterns of language in an enormous database of human-generated text combined from text in books, articles and websites across a wide range of domains. ChatGPT can assist scientists with material organization, draft creation and proofreading, making it a valuable tool in research and publishing. This paper discusses the use of this artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot in academic writing by presenting one simplified example. Specifically, it reflects our experience of using ChatGPT to draft a scientific article for Reproductive BioMedicine Online and highlights the pros, cons and concerns associated with using LLM-based AI for generating a manuscript.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; ChatGPT; Chatbot; Large language model; Scientific writing.

MeSH terms

Artificial Intelligence*
Databases, Factual
Humans
Physicians*
Software
Writing