(14 Nov 2024) Researchers from a group of prestigious universities have devised guidelines for using large language models (LLMs) in academic writing.
As LLMs become more common and easier to use, researchers around the world are using them to help with writing academic papers, especially for brainstorming and creating content. However, this raises concerns about plagiarism, who should be credited as the author, and the overall trustworthiness of academic work.
The new research from authors at University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Copenhagen, National University of Singapore, and other leading institutions – and published in Nature Machine Intelligence – highlights three criteria that maximize the beneficial impacts of LLMs on scientific advancement and academic equity:
- Human vetting and guaranteeing of accuracy and integrity;
- Ensuring substantial human contribution to the work; and
- Appropriate acknowledgment and transparency of LLM use.
The authors created a standard template for acknowledging the use of LLMs, which researchers can use when submitting their papers. This tool will make it easier for researchers to follow ethical guidelines in AI-assisted writing and help make it clearer when LLMs have been used.
The paper ‘Guidelines for ethical use and acknowledgement of large language models in academic writing’ has been published in Nature Machine Intelligence.
Source: Research Information
