AI-generated fake research papers are swarming Google Scholar, which is posing a threat to the academic search engine!
In a recent study published in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review, it was revealed that the fake GPT studies are increasing in number with each passing day.
"Academic journals, archives, and repositories are seeing an increasing number of questionable research papers clearly produced using generative AI,” read the research paper.
It further stated, "They are often created with widely available, general-purpose AI applications, most likely ChatGPT, and mimic scientific writing.”
This was found out by the researchers who collected data from the scientific studies published on Google Scholar, which displayed signs of AI-generated content.
The researchers revealed that the papers included copied content from the ChatGPT bots and had phrases like "I don't have access to real-time data" and "as of my last knowledge update,” which is often seen to appear at the OpenAI’s chat bots.
This evaluation led to the researchers identifying 139 of the studies as "questionable,” which were shown as regular results on the search engine.
"Most of these GPT-fabricated papers were found in non-indexed journals and working papers, but some cases included research published in mainstream scientific journals and conference proceedings," the study said.
This can lead to major credibility concerns and tarnish the image of Google Scholar if the spread of fake content remains untackled.