Part 5/6:
The study also reveals the impact of AI on the attitudes and perceptions of scientists. While they initially agreed that AI would make them more productive, their concerns about AI replacing scientists also increased after using the tool. This suggests that direct experience with AI led to a greater awareness of its disruptive potential.
Interestingly, the satisfaction with their choice of field decreased after using the AI tool, reflecting concerns over reduced creativity and increased automation in their roles. This has led to a substantial increase in the number of researchers planning to reskill, as they recognize the need for new abilities to collaborate effectively with AI.
These findings highlight a recurring pattern of domain experts underestimating the capabilities of AI in their respective fields until they directly experience its impact. As the MIT researchers noted, "the researchers did not anticipate the effects documented in this paper."
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