{"693969":{"#nid":"693969","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ivan Allen College Hosts Panel on AI, Research, and the Future of Discovery","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHuman intelligence, knowledge creation, and iterative critique must remain at the heart of academic inquiry even as artificial intelligence accelerates research output, Amanda Murdie, dean of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/a\u003E, said at the second \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/ai-society\u0022\u003EAI \u0026amp; Society\u003C\/a\u003E speakers series event sponsored by the College.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI see our value as academics wrapped up in what we produce, and I see that wrapped up in the creation of wisdom, which is incredibly linked to how we critique, how we understand each other, and how we refine our work through an iterative process,\u201d Murdie said at the event, which focused on the impact of AI on research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the event, held at Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center on Nov. 4, 2026, Murdie \u0026nbsp;was joined by Sebastian Porsdam Mann, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen Center for Advanced Studies in Bioscience Innovation Law; Sarah Salter, president of the Council of Editors of Learned Journal and professor and director of the Writing Program at Emory University; and Dan Reiter, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Political Science at Emory and co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Political Science.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERichard Utz, IAC senior associate dean, opened the evening\u2019s discussion and said he deals with these issues every day.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Personally, I must say when we decided on this topic for this evening, I immediately thought about all the things that I\u0027m dealing with on a daily basis with my students and in my classes. What is the kind of research, what is the kind of scholarship that we\u0027re going to produce in the future?\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe panelists said that while AI holds promise for academic researchers, higher education leaders must establish clear disclosure standards and protect space for human experience and discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe biggest issue I see right now is the devaluing of the time that it takes humans to do things well,\u201d Salter said. \u201cI worry that we are ceding a lot of the ground of human value to arguments about speed and how fast this makes things possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReiter agreed, saying that while AI can be a powerful tool for data analysis, for instance, it cannot and should not replace human inquisitiveness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The biggest challenge is that AI destroys the joy of discovery,\u201d he said. \u201cThe challenge of AI is if it starts to do everything for you, you do less and less, and that saps the joy out of doing what we do.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPorsdam Mann suggested researchers consider AI more as a tool to raise the bar for research quality, using it to prototype ideas and provide rigorous fact-checking.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the ways I like to think about scholarship produced with or by AI is by analogy to engineering a prototype,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives a roughly shaped, fully developed version of the idea.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAI can also be used to enforce rigor,\u201d he said. \u201cI use AI tools to cross-reference every citation and statement in my papers against source literature.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPorsdam Mann said that, for instance, up to 25% of human-written citations in biomedical papers contain errors or misrepresentations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAI verification tools can help eliminate these errors, and journals would benefit from providing automated fact-checking services using internal, secure models,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUltimately, Salter said, it\u2019s up to higher education to ensure the sense of urgency toward AI adoption so prevalent in business does not creep into every corner of academia, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUniversities are distinct from commercial industry,\u201d she said. \u201cHigher education leadership has a responsibility to protect space for non-AI inquiry, allowing scholars to evaluate knowledge-making values and maintain diverse approaches to research without forcing commercial AI adoption.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next AI \u0026amp; Society event, \u201cAI, Human Empathy, and Relationships: Is AI a Better Partner?,\u201d is scheduled for Feb. 10. The event, at the Historic Academy of Medicine, will explore how AI conversation and companionship are affecting human connection, empathy, intimacy, and relationships.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPanelists at the second AI \u0026amp; Society speakers series event said higher education leaders must establish clear disclosure standards and protect space for human experience and discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Panelists at the second AI \u0026 Society speakers series event said higher education leaders must establish clear disclosure standards and protect space for human experience and discovery."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2026-11-10 17:03:53","changed_gmt":"2026-11-10 17:10:41","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681717":{"id":"681717","type":"image","title":"ai-society-2.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESebastian Porsdam Mann of the University of Copenhagen, second from right, speaks as other panelists listen during the AI \u0026amp; Society event on Nov. 4, 2026, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Also present are, from left, Dan Reiter and Sara Salter of Emory University and Dean Amanda Murdie of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1794330243","gmt_created":"2026-11-10 17:04:03","changed":"1794330243","gmt_changed":"2026-11-10 17:04:03","alt":"Four panelists seated on a stage in front of an Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts banner.","file":{"fid":"266159","name":"ai-society-2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/10\/ai-society-2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/10\/ai-society-2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":265736,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/10\/ai-society-2.jpg?itok=WIMUi9rL"}}},"media_ids":["681717"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}