Each one of us has questions throughout our life. And we know the answers to only a few. Efforts of varying degrees go into getting the answer. We can ask our parents, teachers, friends, a book, an article, the internet or an expert who helps us find the answer.
The process takes time, which means many failed attempts and a lot of reflections. But since 2023, we have a new answering tool that knows it all- Artificial Intelligence. And this tool has become much smarter with lesser mistakes in 2026.
But for a student at a higher education level or a researcher whose learning is based on gathering a large amount of information that is not restricted to a few sources, the use of AI has different consequences. It is an undeniable fact that most, if not all, researchers use AI for various purposes. AI assistance can be in the form of reviewing a concept they have developed on their own, suggestions to overcome a laboratory hurdle they are facing or even to develop a research question from scratch.
When a learner decides to use AI assistance and really wants to develop a high level of understanding, the first effort should be to learn all the basic knowledge relevant to the subject through authentic books, research articles, experts’ ideas, and other conventional resources. This gives the basic skill required by the learner to guide the AI tool during conversation. Lack of such basic knowledge will take the AI down a random path and gives a bigger opportunity for the AI to speculate, imagine and mislead the learner to a less resourceful end. Most of us think that the use of AI will decrease the time taken to arrive at novel research ideas. Effective AI use will, in fact, lead to more time for developing innovative concepts, but their quality will be at a much higher level. The quality can be as good as an idea developed with the help of a pioneer on the subject, affiliated with a premier institution who is not accessible to most. AI has the capability to guide the user to that level. Provided you challenge it intellectually. Humans tend to go with the tide. When most of their peers are moving fast in their research with passive use of AI, one’s mind will hesitate to take the road less travelled. Here, educationalists and research guides should constantly instruct their students on the benefits of time-tested, slow and steady learning of concepts, which may need hours of reading, visits to real laboratories or places, and reflection on the learnt content. What they should not do is passively accept it or replicate the same mistakes which their students make. Let me close with two disturbing situations when AI use can challenge the entire scientific community and create an environment of mistrust and inappropriate judgement. An emerging challenge is when invited peer reviewers of research articles use AI to review original research. These reviewers have the liberty to ask questions about the research without a reference and can quote it as their own experience. This turns into a burden for the article’s author, who is left to defend the questions, which may look innovative but may not have a strong current scientific basis or may be just cunningly speculative. Dr. M. Emmanuel Bhaskar is a Professor of Medicine at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai
There is another side to the challenge, which is “Self and society”.
