By Adesina Wahab
A study by Indonesian researchers published in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, scholar’s Scopus indexed journal, Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, shows that using Artificial Intelligence , AI, for research has a negative impact on critical thinking among others.
The study showed that using AI tools like Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) could potentially reduce human intellectual capabilities in the areas of critical thinking, analysis and interpretation as well as sound reasoning and logic.
The study’s authors are Drs Suntoro Suntoro, Ida Zulaeha, Hari Bakti Mardikantoro, and Tommi Yuniawan, all of Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia.
In the study, the researchers adopted a systematic review approach involving 19 selected studies from databases like Google Scholar and Scopus.
They found that chatGPT has affected aspects of academic research like topic selection, reference search, data analysis, copy editing as well as translation.
The study equally revealed that utilizing chatGPT for academic research writing has its drawbacks, like increasing instances of plagiarism and declining value of honesty and responsibility.
Dr Suntoro and his team of researchers argued that allowing AI to perform roles meant for humans could promote mental laziness among people and called for caution on the part of researchers when using AI tools for their research.
The study was published in the special issue of Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, a Scopus-indexed journal established by Dr Gever Verlumun, a Nigerian communication scholar from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
A grant from the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum, Germany, supported the special issue, which is titled “Digital media and research in 21st-century society: Assessing the current trends and projecting the future.” (Vanguard)