Rise of the machines: trends and challenges of implementing AI in biomedical scientific writing

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is advancing significantly, with many applications already in medicine, healthcare, and biomedical research. Among these fields, the area that AI is remarkably reshaping is biomedical scientific writing. Thousands of AI-based tools can be applied at every step of the writing process, improving time effectiveness, and streamlining authors’ workflow. Out of this variety, choosing the best software for a particular task may pose a challenge. While ChatGPT receives the necessary attention, other AI software should be addressed. In this review, we draw attention to a broad spectrum of AI tools to provide users with a perspective on which steps of their work can be improved. Several medical journals developed policies toward the usage of AI in writing. Even though they refer to the same technology, they differ, leaving a substantially gray area prone to abuse. To address this issue, we comprehensively discuss common ambiguities regarding AI in biomedical scientific writing, such as plagiarism, copyrights, and the obligation of reporting its implementation. In addition, this article aims to raise awareness about misconduct due to insufficient detection, lack of reporting, and unethical practices revolving around AI that might threaten unaware authors and medical society. We provide advice for authors who wish to implement AI in their daily work, emphasizing the need for transparency and the obligation together with the responsibility to maintain biomedical research credibility in the age of artificially enhanced science.