Is Artificial Intelligence a Better Researcher than Humans?

Abstract

In the last few years Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has taken universities by storm. This does not only affect the way what and how to teach and how to assess knowledge and competences in exams, but it also impacts the way how to do research. On one hand, GenAI has fast access to a huge amount of wide-ranging (explicit) knowledge and the capability to extract and combine knowledge that seems to be relevant in the context of certain research. On the other hand, research is closely linked to the human capability of being creative showing curiosity, care, collaboration, and critical thinking. Against this background, the paper addresses a question of immense social and also ethical relevance: May we use (Gen)AI as tool for scientific research and if so to what extent? The paper starts analysing the problem from a theoretical and conceptual point of view by comparing capabilities of GenAI with those of a good researcher. Based on this the complete research cycle is investigated to understand which capabilities are more helpful to achieve research results of high quality and novelty, but in an effective way. To gather empirical data from a self-experiment, the setup of an unexperienced researcher (e.g. PhD student) with just a rough idea about the intentional research focus was chosen. Addressing the first and fundamental phase of any research process, idea generation, by comparing performance of an AI researcher with a human one, results demonstrate the usefulness of combining strength of both worlds mandatorily keeping the human researcher in the loop. With this, the paper focusses on chances and challenges coming with the highly dynamic evolution of AI within a complex, knowledge-intense application area where human experience, problem-solving capability and creativity is decisive. It contributes to discussions about necessary adjustments in how organizations (and particularly universities) manage their knowledge generating potential considering artificial and human intelligence.