Continuing from the previous post titled "Why can´t Academia earn billions while fighting corporate unethical science ?" (link above), let's delve into the insights presented in an article from The Economist published on January 18, 2024. A concise excerpt is outlined below:
"...the arms race between generation and detection favours the forger.... Even the best detection system would have no crack to find and no ledge to grasp....Dystopian possibilities abound. It will be difficult, for example, to avoid a world in which any photograph of a person can be made pornographic by someone using an open-source model in their basement, then used for blackmail—a tactic the fbi has already warned about. Perhaps anyone will be able to produce a video of a president or prime minister announcing a nuclear first strike, momentarily setting the world on edge. Fraudsters impersonating relatives will prosper....reputation and provenance will become more important than ever." https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/01/18/ai-generated-content-is-raising-the-value-of-trust
In the aforementioned context, it is worthwhile to reconsider a controversial proposal put forth by Emeritus Professor Terry Young. In a world dominated by GPT, this proposal has now acquired an entirely new significance, https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/10/universities-should-stop-producing.html The significance of this matter has escalated, especially with the emergence of the first research-oriented GPT-controlled robots. These machines exhibit the capability to autonomously conceptualize, plan, and execute intricate experiments entirely devoid of human intervention https://pachecotorgal.com/2024/01/03/gpt-4-projecta-planeia-e-executa-experiencias-complexas-sem-ajuda/
In conclusion, the academic realm has undergone a significant metamorphosis, propelled by the pervasive impact of artificial intelligence. This radical force of change has not only reshaped its fundamental dynamics but has also lessened the traditional emphasis placed on teaching and publications. In its place, a discernible shift is evident, with a heightened focus on the pivotal aspects of "assessment, curation, and mentoring."
PS - Remarkably, within an AI-dominated world the significance of assessment extends beyond the boundaries of academia, echoing Yuval Harari's suggestion that even schools should now assume a pivotal role in nurturing children's capacity to differentiate "between credible and non-credible sources of information."
