How is the development and use of artificial intelligence changing the norms of inquiry and knowledge production across different disciplines?

That’s the question to be taken up by Eamon Duede, assistant professor of philosophy at Purdue University, as part of a new interdisciplinary, multi-institutional project.

Called “AI & Evolving Disciplinary Norms of Inquiry,” the project is being supported with a $250,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Here’s his description of it:

This project seeks to understand how the rapid integration of artificial intelligence is transforming the norms that govern how different scientific and scholarly disciplines produce, justify, and communicate knowledge. It begins from the observation that AI systems are no longer confined to domain-specific applications but are increasingly capable of participating in every stage of inquiry, from hypothesis generation to data analysis and publication. The project investigates whether such general-purpose technologies will enrich discipline centered inquiry or erode it by homogenizing epistemic practices across fields. To answer this, it combines conceptual and empirical methods: convening interdisciplinary workshops to study how diverse disciplines negotiate AI’s entry into their practices, and conducting a rich, empirical study of the role of AI in the formal mathematics community as a model case for observing how AI reshapes standards of proof, collaboration, and problem valuation. Together, these efforts aim to produce both theoretical understanding, frameworks, and practical guidance for integrating AI into science in ways that preserve the richness and heterogeneity of disciplinary inquiry.

You can learn more about the project and some opportunities for joining it here.