MIT Calls for Withdrawal of Controversial AI Research Paper
MIT has raised concerns about the credibility of a prominent study on the impact of artificial intelligence on the efficiency of a materials science laboratory, prompting a call for the paper to be removed from public discussion.
The paper, titled “Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation,” was authored by a doctoral candidate in MIT’s economics program. It purportedly demonstrated that the implementation of an AI tool in a large materials science lab resulted in the discovery of more materials and increased patent applications, albeit at the expense of researchers’ job satisfaction.
Renowned MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and David Autor had previously commended the paper, with Autor expressing astonishment in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. However, a recent statement from MIT reveals that Acemoglu and Autor now question the authenticity and reliability of the data presented in the research.
According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, a computer scientist specializing in materials science raised doubts about the study to Acemoglu and Autor, prompting an internal investigation at MIT. While the university has not disclosed the outcome of the review due to privacy regulations, it has confirmed that the paper’s author, Aidan Toner-Rodgers, is no longer affiliated with MIT.
MIT has urged for the withdrawal of the paper from The Quarterly Journal of Economics, where it was under review for publication, as well as from the preprint repository arXiv. Despite MIT’s request, the author has yet to retract the paper from arXiv.