AI & Future of Academic Research

Focus shift from style policing to verification of substance, data, and methodology. AI Writing and Context:efficiency tool inquantitative social sciences, where the focus is on results and data output AI Detectors (Pangram):distract from the critical task of verifying theveracity of data, code, and arguments Verification is the Bottleneck:logically consistent and factually accurate; verification tools, such asRefine.ink, to evaluate research papers Research Ethics: researcher is responsiblefor the work they put their name on, regardless of the tools used to produce it Teaching AI Literacy:understanding underlying concepts (like regression or statistics);verify machine-generated outputs Public Writing:faster dissemination of conceptual work compared to traditional academic journal Peer review, data checks, and verification15:23Are journals using Pangram?17:28Replication data matters more than detector scores29:23Verifying Claude Code and Codex outputs32:21Alex's AI-tool setup48:01Using AI for familiar academic workflows52:29Adoption at Notre Dame and among graduate students57:11What social science looks like in three to five years1:07:07Responsibility, expertise, and the future of research workflowsAlexander Kustov, Keough School of Global Affairs https://keough.nd.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/alexander-kustov/ 'Policy by Design', Kustov on Substack https://www.popularbydesign.org/p/academics-need-to-wake-up-on-ai Ilya Shabanov:academic note-taking and research managementusingObsidian. Source Notes:papers, books, or websites; anchors link to original source (e.g., PDF) for verification Topic Notes;claims extracted from sources; links back to source note; every piece of information is verifiable Argument Notes;researcher's own ideas, questions, and speculation; separate from source-based facts Mindset Shift:Move away from 'hunting' for information; 'farmer,' curating notes so they can be harvested Bases:dynamic database for managing papers, reading lists, and project-specific notes Atomic Sentences:pieces can be easily rearranged to draft paragraphs of academic writing Idea Generation:knowledge graph synthesizes connections between seemingly unrelated topics (e.g., fossil fuels and penguin populations) Effortless Academic, Obsidian course https://effortlessacademic.com/academic-quick-start-guide/