{"id":3385,"date":"2026-11-04T05:40:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/?p=3385"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:42:35","slug":"getting-off-at-the-right-station-reflections-on-ai-readiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/2026\/11\/04\/getting-off-at-the-right-station-reflections-on-ai-readiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting off at the right station: reflections on AI readiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cyrus Walther is a doctoral student in the <\/em>Astroparticle Physics Group at TU Dortmund University; nominated by IUPAP, he has served on the CODATA Executive Committee since 2023. He contributes actively to CODATA\u2019s Early Career Group, <\/em>CODATA Connect<\/em><\/a>, and to the <\/em>Task Group on Digital Representation of Units of Measure (DRUM).<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

From the 19th to the 21st of October, the International Science Council<\/a> (ISC), in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Technology (CAST), welcomed the international scientific community to Beijing for the Beijing Science Dialogue<\/a>. During these three days, topics of transformative impact on science were discussed, among them Artificial Intelligence. As AI especially impacts early- and mid-career researchers, EMCRs from the ISC community suggested including young panellists on the topic. Following a nomination, I had the great honour to receive that invitation from the International Science Council to speak as an early-career scientist on the panel \u201cResponsible AI for global challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the exceptional panel speakers and our outstanding moderator discussing a highly relevant and spotlighted topic like AI, we expected people to have high interest and diverse perspectives. However, none of us on stage foresaw that especially one contribution would remain in the audience\u2019s memory of this panel: the bus metaphor.<\/p>\n

During the introductory round, we were asked to provide a short input focusing on our perspective on how AI transforms science. For this input, I chose to highlight the development of young people utilizing AI from an inside perspective using a metaphor that goes like this:
\n___<\/p>\n

Imagine you want to climb a mountain. You travel to the small mountain village at the foot of the mountain that you want to hike up. As you arrive, you meet a lovely senior lady, maybe around 95 years old, and she happily shares her impressions about the amazing views at the summit. Affirmed by the lady, you are ready to start your hike in the morning. The next morning, you find out that there is a bus that takes you to the start of the hiking trail. \u201cThat sounds marvellous\u201d, you think, and you start looking for the bus station and you find it close by. Not long after, the bus arrives. It looks good and the bus driver is very friendly, so you go inside. The bus is indeed very comfy and warm, and from the inside you have a great view of the mountain panorama outside. Stunned, you watch the trees go by and the beautiful mountain ranges in the distance. Then, it suddenly strikes you: you have missed your stop. The bus is already far up the mountain. So you scream, \u201cSorry, sorry, I missed my stop. I need to get off.\u201d The bus driver answers, \u201cNo problem\u201d, stops the bus and opens the door. As you get off the bus, happy about the fact that you noticed, you start feeling the cold wind around you. You look up the mountain; it is already foggy, cold, and quite steep. \u201cBut this is what I signed up for\u201d, you mumble, and you start hiking. After 50 meters, you are out of breath, sweating, and freezing. Frustrated, you turn around to the bus driver, who is luckily still there and happily welcomes you back. After all, you want to see the summit. The senior lady said it was so nice, so you will just take the bus there. When you get on the bus, it is warm and dry again, and so comfortable. You are convinced this was a good decision. Some time passes and the bus stops. \u201cWe arrived at the summit, the bus driver says.\u201d Excited, you jump off the bus. Stepping outside, you glance at the beautiful view that is presented to you; the senior lady did not lie. \u201cStunning!\u201d you say to yourself just as a gust of wind almost blows you off your feet. That\u2019s when you notice the bone-chilling cold around you as the warmth of the bus slowly fades away. Only a few seconds go by and it becomes unbearable – strong winds and freezing cold. You realize you are out of your depth, completely unprepared for the harsh environment on the summit\u2026
\nYou might ask, why is this story relevant? What is the kicker? The bus was warm, the bus was nice, right? The bus was called ChatGPT. <\/em>
\n___<\/p>\n

From this metaphor, one can and should ask the question of whether Artificial Intelligence is not only transforming science on its own, but primarily the scientists themselves, especially when it comes to Generative AI.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While the metaphor has various flaws, it remains relatable to scientists independent of their career stage. Now, one might think, \u201cYes, everybody already forgot to get off at the right station.\u201d While this is surely correct, the metaphor relates much further, towards comfort and the warmth of the bus. Its feeling might be mimicked in doomscrolling while already having to leave for an appointment; in sleeping in because the bed is cozy although one has calls scheduled; or in choosing the frozen pizza dinner over a home-cooked meal. More specifically, to extend the metaphor: now at the top of the mountain, unaccustomed to the cold and the harsh environment, could you find your way down without the help of the bus? Faced with another mountain, but deprived of a bus service, could you manage to get to the top? Is the comfort and warmth of the bus depriving you of the opportunity to adapt to the alpine environment, to learn to navigate and climb on your own so when forced to descend from the bus you can find your own way?<\/p>\n

After the panel, I was approached by various colleagues from the community, expressing their interest in the metaphor and stating their intention to use it in their teachings. Amongst many great pieces of feedback for which I am deeply grateful, one piece stood out to me. It was when a senior colleague approached me during a coffee break later that day because she realized something. She told me, \u201cI am on the bus; I just realized it, Cyrus. I am on the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThis remains the key insight of the story of the bus and the mountain: it is the awareness to understand where you are right now, on the bus, about to get on, halfway up the mountain avoiding the bus, or already on your way down from the peak. Then, as soon as you are aware of where you are, it is about acknowledging it, identifying where you want to go and potentially changing your path.<\/p>\n

So, the question remains: Are you on the bus and do you know when to get off? :)<\/p>\n

Thank you very much for reading until here.
\nAll the best!<\/p>\n

The panel was chaired by <\/em>Fran\u00e7oise Baylis<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(President, Royal Society of Canada, ISC Governing Board member). The other panellists were: Andrew Deeks\u00a0<\/strong>(President, International Association of Universities); Emna Harigua<\/strong>\u00a0(Researcher, Institut Pasteur de Tunis); Liu Xuan<\/strong>\u00a0(Director of Institute of Innovative Environment, CAST, and member of the ISC Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cyrus Walther is a doctoral student in the Astroparticle Physics Group at TU Dortmund University; nominated by IUPAP, he has served on the CODATA Executive Committee since 2023. He contributes actively to CODATA\u2019s Early Career Group, CODATA Connect, and to the Task Group on Digital Representation of Units of Measure (DRUM). From the 19th to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[77,76,71,72,73,75,70,74],"class_list":["post-3385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ai-for-science","tag-ai-readiness","tag-codata-connect","tag-ecrs","tag-emcrs","tag-future-of-science","tag-isc","tag-open-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}