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’s Early Career Group, CODATA Connect, and to the Task Group on Digital Representation of Units of Measure (DRUM).
From the 19th to the 21st of October, the International Science Council (ISC), in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Technology (CAST), welcomed the international scientific community to Beijing for the Beijing Science Dialogue. 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 “Responsible AI for global challenges”.
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’s memory of this panel: the bus metaphor.
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:
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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. “That sounds marvellous”, 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, “Sorry, sorry, I missed my stop. I need to get off.” The bus driver answers, “No problem”, 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. “But this is what I signed up for”, 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. “We arrived at the summit, the bus driver says.” 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. “Stunning!” you say to yourself just as a gust of wind almost blows you off your feet. That’s 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…
You 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.
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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.
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