Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines

Will artificial intelligence (AI) change how scholars write? To find out, I examine normative barriers to the institutionalization of AI tools for text generation in history, political science, and economics. Concretely, I ask 139 editors and editorial board members at 40 top journals—gatekeepers—if...

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Main Author: Isak Ladegaard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-03-01
Series:Socius
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251326981
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author Isak Ladegaard
author_facet Isak Ladegaard
author_sort Isak Ladegaard
collection DOAJ
description Will artificial intelligence (AI) change how scholars write? To find out, I examine normative barriers to the institutionalization of AI tools for text generation in history, political science, and economics. Concretely, I ask 139 editors and editorial board members at 40 top journals—gatekeepers—if they approve of AI-aided writing, defined as (1) a human provides ideas in brief notes; (2) instructs AI to write them up as paragraphs in a preferred style; and (3) edits, verifies, and signs the final text. Most (51 percent) respondents agree that such AI-aided writing is acceptable, but many disagree (33 percent) or remain uncertain (16 percent). Respondents base their approval or disapproval mainly on moral claims about what constitutes worthy authorship. Substantial differences among the three disciplines suggest that rather than converging, the emergence of AI-aided writing provokes reflections on the purpose of human writing and boundary work within the academy.
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spelling doaj-art-861e3f4b3f1844d29ab2bc0e1d2323332025-08-20T01:50:35ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312025-03-011110.1177/23780231251326981Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic DisciplinesIsak Ladegaard0University of Hong Kong, Hong KongWill artificial intelligence (AI) change how scholars write? To find out, I examine normative barriers to the institutionalization of AI tools for text generation in history, political science, and economics. Concretely, I ask 139 editors and editorial board members at 40 top journals—gatekeepers—if they approve of AI-aided writing, defined as (1) a human provides ideas in brief notes; (2) instructs AI to write them up as paragraphs in a preferred style; and (3) edits, verifies, and signs the final text. Most (51 percent) respondents agree that such AI-aided writing is acceptable, but many disagree (33 percent) or remain uncertain (16 percent). Respondents base their approval or disapproval mainly on moral claims about what constitutes worthy authorship. Substantial differences among the three disciplines suggest that rather than converging, the emergence of AI-aided writing provokes reflections on the purpose of human writing and boundary work within the academy.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251326981
spellingShingle Isak Ladegaard
Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
Socius
title Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
title_full Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
title_fullStr Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
title_full_unstemmed Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
title_short Differentiation by Disruption: Gatekeeper Perspectives on “AI-Aided Writing” in Three Academic Disciplines
title_sort differentiation by disruption gatekeeper perspectives on ai aided writing in three academic disciplines
url https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251326981
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