AI and IR Research: What Challenges Ahead

Call for participants - Roundtable proposal (for submission to ISA Virtual Events)

Since the launch of ChatGPT on 30 November 2022, the impact - actual and potential - of Artificial Intelligence on the most diverse sectors has dominated the headlines. Several commentators have focused on education, at all levels, especially interrogating the consequences of the use of AI-based tools in the drafting of students' assignments and essays, and how this may be addressed.

Somehow less explored has been the impact of AI on research and scholarly publishing. Major publishers have issued policy guidelines about the use of AI tools in content creation, but these have usually been limited to general statements calling for a transparent and responsible use of such tools and prohibiting the inclusion of AIs as a listed author.

From our perspective as editors of an International Relations journal such as The International Spectator, we believe that there is an urgent need to better explore the consequences of the increased availability of AI-based tools in our field. To this end, we plan to organise a round table on the topic with journal editors, IR scholars, publishing professionals and AI experts from different regions and backgrounds, in order to better understand what the challenges - and opportunities - ahead may be; rather than looking for answers, we think that identifying and operationalising some of the most pressing questions would be a first step forward.

Therefore, we invite prospective participants to send us open questions that they would like to explore with regard to the impact of AI on IR research and publishing; these may include (but are not limited to):

• the different tools currently available (also in terms of detection) and their specific implications;
• the use of AI in the research process in the IR field (e.g. data collection or analysis);
• the use of AI in the writing process in the IR field (e.g. drafting, editing or translating texts);
• best (and worst) editorial practices (including peer-review policy) vis-a-vis AI tools;
• operationalising a responsible and transparent use of AI in IR research and publishing;
• AI and scholarly diversity: biases tackled, reproduced and/or amplified by AI-tools.

Manifestation of interest in participating in the round table, along with 1-2 questions and a short bio of the proponent, should be submitted by Friday, February 23rd to: tis[at]iai.it. Selected participants will then be notified within two weeks.

The round table proposal will then be submitted for consideration to the ISA Virtual Program, aiming to host it online in May 2024.

At the end of the process, a 'forum' article based on the contributions to the round table will then be published in a new, dedicated section on The International Spectator.