Expertise on Demand: AI in Journalism, Academia, and Thought Leadership

A quiet crisis may be unfolding within the foundations of expertise and thought-leadership. While artificial intelligence promises increased efficiency in almost every industry, evidence of AI usage is increasingly occurring in peer-reviewed academic works, and databases are starting to show evidence of AI hallucinations. The media industry is being further weakened by a reliance on generated posts, LLMs are already affecting polling data, and the debate is raging over how to incorporate AI into government decision-making processes. We may become a society where experts not only use AI, but increasingly rely on it. At what point does algorithmic assistance become an intellectual liability? How can the public distinguish between expertise built on a career of education and experience, against an armchair expert using AI tools? Join the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as we explore how AI may lead to a hollowing out of experience, and eventually to a crisis of leadership. Speakers on this panel include: Dr. Joan Donovan, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media Studies at Boston University. Andrew Gray, librarian at University College London, specializing in the use of bibliometric tools and methods. Moderator: Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.