On May 22, specialists from the IT Export Support Project Office of the Center for Global IT Cooperation, Alina Ustinova and Alim Khapov, held a workshop in the Human Capital Development Pavilion at the international Positive Hack Days festival. The session explored how artificial intelligence is influencing human development and scientific knowledge.
Participants discussed not only AI’s potential to automate data analysis, generate hypotheses, and uncover new patterns, but also the philosophical and ethical risks it poses. The discussion was inspired by a March 2024 Nature article in which anthropologist Lisa Messeri and cognitive scientist M.J. Crotet warned that as AI takes on a greater role in science, the risk of losing depth of understanding increases. AI may narrow the range of scientific questions and methodologies, creating an illusion of objectivity and neutrality.
Particular focus was given to four archetypes of AI use in science: the Oracle, the Surrogate, the Quantifier, and the Arbiter. Alina Ustinova emphasized that AI must remain a tool, not a partner in the pursuit of knowledge. Excessive automation threatens to create a "monoculture of knowledge," where diversity of approaches is lost and control over the scientific process is diminished.
Participants discussed not only AI’s potential to automate data analysis, generate hypotheses, and uncover new patterns, but also the philosophical and ethical risks it poses. The discussion was inspired by a March 2024 Nature article in which anthropologist Lisa Messeri and cognitive scientist M.J. Crotet warned that as AI takes on a greater role in science, the risk of losing depth of understanding increases. AI may narrow the range of scientific questions and methodologies, creating an illusion of objectivity and neutrality.
Particular focus was given to four archetypes of AI use in science: the Oracle, the Surrogate, the Quantifier, and the Arbiter. Alina Ustinova emphasized that AI must remain a tool, not a partner in the pursuit of knowledge. Excessive automation threatens to create a "monoculture of knowledge," where diversity of approaches is lost and control over the scientific process is diminished.
