AI In Scientific Research

For the Faint of Heart, be warned!

We have an... interesting topic for today.

I am a big believer in looking at Scientific Research.

When it is done well, it's a GREAT way to inform you of better ways to Lead Teams and Organizations.

One of the largest Problems with this though is that there is a LOT of bad Research that exists.

I've talked about this in IQ Research before, as well as in the Nutrition Industry.

Even lately I have talked about this within the Return-To-Office "Mandates" and why the Research does not support any of the claims that I have seen, and how the misinformation is a hindrance to Progress.

However, I was reading something today that has both made me laugh at how utterly ridiculous it was and also made me realize we have another important aspect to be paying attention to in Scientific Research.

Now, what happened?

Well, the "original" peer-reviewed research has been modified, but luckily we can still have a good laugh at what happened.

See, some researchers were doing science on Mice... nothing worrisome about that necessarily (sorry animal activists, it is a norm of the Industry).

However, these Researchers used AI-Generated Images and Figures in their work, and a certain Mouse got... large publicity.

Now, again, this is not for the Faint of Heart!

What made the AI-Generated work so controversial?

Well, apparently, AI Created an image where a male mouse had an excessively... enhanced manhood.

If you look at Images that circulated online, the AI Creation made the mouse's manhood nearly twice the size of its body.

Now, we can all laugh about how Ridiculous that is because, well it is Ridiculous!

However, this is the Problem I am seeing.

Even though this AI Image was completely laughable and which I "hope" no one would take seriously, the Research Paper was PUBLISHED in a Peer Reviewed Journal!

That means that people who oversee the journal read the paper, saw the images, and STILL allowed the work to be Published!

Why is it a Problem?

People believe that "Peer-Reviewed" should be Trustworthy.

People expect that when they read something that is Peer-Reviewed, it has been Expertly vetted and nothing Misleading should be left in it.

The sad Reality is that this isn't true, and a lot of Research is Purposefully Misleading.

Why is this such a big deal then?

Images, in general, are easy to make Viral.

The fact that people were paying enough attention to how Ridiculous this particular mouse was to showcase it to the world, forcing the Research to be edited is proof of that.

In this case, it will likely be remembered as something harmless - but that is only "this" case.

What this is revealing to us is that we cannot automatically Trust the Images, Figures, and Graphs that we see in "Peer-Reviewed" Research.

Apparently, a Scientist can put nearly any Anatomically Incorrect Image, Figure, or Graph that is purposefully Misleading within a paper and still get Published.

With the rise of AI, it is only more likely that Researchers will utilize the technology to create Interesting, Colorful, and most importantly "Distracting" Images and Graphs to make their Research more Appealing.

It also means that people who incorrectly read and publicize such Research (as we OFTEN see on the News) will use those Images Purposefully to drive Ratings, Likes, Subscriptions, etc.

It will allow the Misinformation to spread more quickly and visually.

Worse though is that companies will end up using Images, Figures, and Graphs from Research that they have funded to push their Products and Services more than they already do as AI will help it spread faster.

This will likely create more Doubt and prevent more Progress along the way.

However, you can avoid this by learning how to actually Read and Understand Research.

You can learn the difference between when a company is trying to Sell you something, when you are being purposefully Misled, when "Theory" makes no "Practical" sense, and when Research IS truly Impactful.

You can learn how to look past Misleading Images, Figures, and Graphs (AI or otherwise) and learn what the Research is Truly showing and talking about.