Michelle Riedlinger and Kevin Witzenberger will run a workshop at this year’s ResBaz. Titled Auditing Generative AI Tools for Academic Research and Writing, this hands-on workshop builds on our research project aimed at understanding and demystifying the rapidly evolving ecosystem of research-specific generative AI (RGAI) tools. As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in academic workflows, it is critical to develop methods for systematically evaluating these tools’ capabilities, limitations, and implications.
Building on our inventory of RGAI platforms, the workshop will guide attendees through a structured evaluation process based on the extended app walkthrough method (Light, Burgess & Duguay, 2016). This method enables a critical mapping of each tool’s affordances, constraints, intended applications, and embedded norms.
Through collaborative analysis and discussion, we will explore how these walkthroughs can inform the development of ‘report cards’, a framework for communicating the technical and ethical dimensions of RGAI tools to broader academic and public audiences. Drawing on recent work (Snoswell et al., 2023; Gilbert et al., 2023), we will also consider how these evaluations can support future research into how generative AI is reshaping scholarly communication, authorship, and the academic publishing process.
By the end of the session, participants will have practical experience in auditing generative AI tools and a deeper understanding of how to critically engage with their integration into academic research and writing.
If you would like to attend you can register here.