Scientific journals publish papers with AI-generated introductions

Multiple scientific papers containing text generated by AI have emerged, calling into question the reliability of the papers and underscoring concerns about the role of AI in scientific publishing. 

Several media organisations report finding papers listed on academic platforms containing the phrase 'As of my last knowledge update'. Using the same string of words, 404 Media reportedly found 115 different papers on Google Scholar that appeared to have relied on copy and pasted AI model outputs. The phrase is one of many produced by large language models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Topics of the papers, which were mostly found to have been published in obscure journals, included spinal injuries, battery technologies, rural medicine, bacterial infections, cryptocurrency, children's wellbeing, and artificial intelligence.

It was also reported that, in most instances, the authors of the relevant papers failed to disclose the use of artificial intelligence, raising questions about their ethics and values, as#nd more broadly about scientific peer-review processes and publication standards at top publishers, including Elsevier.

The findings came at a time when incidences of bogus or plagiarised academic studies have surged, leading to an uptick in retractions. A 2023 Nature survey of scientists found that 30% of the 1,600 scientists polled admitted to using AI tools to help them write manuscripts.