Dear Commons Community,

Violeta Berdejo-Espinola and Tatsuya Amano have a letter to the Editor of Science this morning questioning its recent editorial banning the use of text generated from AI in scientific articles. Here is the entire Berdejo-Espinola and Amano letter.

“In his Editorial “ChatGPT is fun, but not an author” (27 January, p. 313), Editor-in-Chief H. H. Thorp describes Science’s position on using artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific papers. The updated policy essentially bans the use of text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools in articles. However, Thorp overlooks the potential of AI tools to improve equity in science by alleviating linguistic disparities.

Research has shown that nonnative English speakers need to invest much more effort than native English speakers when writing papers in English (¹). Journals are more likely to reject or request revisions before acceptance of papers written by nonnative English speakers (^{2, 3}). Human English translation and editing services are costly and time-consuming (⁴), creating a profound disadvantage for the career development and fair participation of nonnative English speakers in science.

Emerging AI tools, such as ChatGPT and DeepL, can proofread English text with high accuracy (^{5, 6}). The availability of quality, free (or affordable) English editing presents an opportunity for nonnative English speakers, especially those in low-income countries, who often cannot afford to use human English editing services (^{1, 4}). Reducing the technical and financial burden of editing and proofreading papers for nonnative English speakers would be a substantial step toward achieving equity in science.

Our relationship with AI should be a partnership, not a competition. Journal policies should allow authors to use AI tools to edit and proofread their manuscripts. Journal editors can ensure that humans wrote the original text by using the detection tools available [e.g., (⁷)]. In addition, they can request that authors declare the use of AI tools, as Nature does (⁸), or submit the original version as well as the AI-edited version of the manuscript for full transparency. Regardless of whether they use AI tools, authors will always be responsible for the language used and the content in their final text.”

I agree with the two authors on this.  I think we need to find ways to partner with AI not ban it.  Presently, I have twelve graduate students evaluating writing  papers using ChatGPT.   One of these students made the same comments as above about the benefits of this software for nonnative English speakers.

Tony

1. T. Amano et al., EcoEvoRxiv 10.32942/X29G6H (2022).
2. S. Politzer-Ahles, T. Girolamo, S. Ghali, J. Eng. Acad. Purp. 47, 100895 (2020).
3. A. L. Romero-Olivares, Science 10.1126/science.caredit.aaz7179 (2020).
4. V. Ramírez-Castañeda, PLOS ONE 15, e0238372 (2020).
5. A. Katnelson, Nature 609, 208 (2022).
6. S. Hun, Sci. Edit. 10, 1 (2023).
7. J. Hendrik Kirchner, L. Ahmad, S. Aaronson, J. Leike, “New AI classifier for indicating AI-written text,” OpenAI (2023); https://openai.com/blog/new-ai-classifier-for-indicating-ai-written-text/.
8. Nature 613, 612 (2023).

Dear Commons Community,

Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on “woke,” but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one.

Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.

Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” That’s the view of 56% of Republicans.

The findings raise questions about whether Republican campaign promises to ban policies at schools and workplaces they denounce as “woke” could boost a contender in the party’s primaries but put them at odds with broader public opinion in the general election.

Independents, by 51%-45%, say “woke” means being aware of social injustice, not being overly politically correct.  As reported by USA Today.

“Most Americans understand that to be woke is to be tuned in to injustices around us,” said Cliff Young of Ipsos. “But for a key segment of Republicans who make up the Trump-DeSantis base, ‘woke’ is a clear trigger for the worst of the politically correct, emerging multicultural majority.”

In the early 20th century, “woke” was generally used as a call for Black people around the world to “wake up” to racial oppression. After the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the term gained wider usage to describe awareness of the continuing legacy of racial discrimination and systematic oppression.

Now conservatives have adopted the term as a rallying cry in the culture wars, signaling their opposition to everything from the teaching of the ongoing effects of slavery to the use of gender-neutral pronouns.

“We will never surrender to the woke mob,” Ron DeSantis declared in his victory speech when he won a second term as Florida governor in November. Former President Donald Trump last week accused President Joe Biden of engineering “a woke takeover of the entire federal government.”

Even South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott, a Black man who discusses how racism has affected his life, has derided “woke corporations” and “woke prosecutors” as negative forces in American life.

Trump has announced his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination, and DeSantis is seen as likely to be his leading challenger, although he hasn’t formally announced his candidacy. Scott has also indicated he is considering a presidential bid.

Across party lines, about 1 in 4 say they don’t know enough about what the term means to judge whether it is a compliment or a slur.

The USA TODAY/Ipsos poll of 1,023 adults was taken Friday through Sunday using KnowledgePanel, Ipsos’ online probability-based panel. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

I am a woke and proud of it!

Tony