A new report by the Center for Research Analysis, prepared for DFIR, highlights the potential and risks of using GenAI in various phases of the research process and shows how researchers at Danish universities perceive and use GenAI. DFIR concludes that there is significant potential for broader adoption of GenAI among researchers in Denmark.
The report indicates that while researchers at Danish universities see the advantages of GenAI, its current use is limited. Only eight of the 32 application areas see more than 25% of researchers using GenAI. These applications often involve routine tasks, primarily at the beginning and end of the research process, such as literature searches, drafting, and rephrasing smaller text sections, as well as assistance with programming and statistical analyses.
Researchers fall into three groups based on their perception of GenAI's impact on research integrity. The most skeptical group, comprising 24% of researchers, believes that GenAI can only be used as a language assistant for drafting text. Researchers in the humanities, theoretical natural sciences, and qualitative social sciences are overrepresented in this group. A slightly less skeptical group, comprising 35% of researchers, believes that GenAI can be used for pattern recognition and analysis in addition to text processing. However, this group is skeptical of using GenAI for developing research ideas and conducting peer reviews. The remaining 41% are generally positive about using GenAI but remain cautious about applications such as generating synthetic datasets and identifying the ethical aspects of research projects.
Based on the report, DFIR concludes that there is significant potential for increased use of GenAI among researchers in Denmark.