ChatGPT makes it easier than ever to fabricate data

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-11 03:00

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Journals should require proof of data collection, according to international researchers, because ChatGPT makes it easy to fabricate non-existent data. The team asked the AI-based language model chatbot to write an abstract about rheumatoid arthritis using data up to the year 2020, knowing that ChatGPT only has access to data up until 2019. ChatGPT provided this abstract without question and also said it used data from a database known to be protected from public view, which implies this data was also fabricated. The team also successfully asked the AI to “reword the conclusion” to support a particular claim. The resulting abstracts show how easy it is to fabricate a paper, and journal publishers need to be aware of the possibilities and screen for AI the same way they screen for plagiarism, the team says.