Augmenting Scholarly Publishing: Intelligent Emerging Tools & Trends
A New Dawn of AI and the Future of Work
Welcome, ScholCom/MedCom peers,
Hopeful Opening – Hopefully, the holidays enabled you to rest, rejoice, reflect, & reenergize to plan towards a productive 2024 🥳
Celebrations – New year is filled with hope, aspirations, & updates on new beginnings 💫 Our heartiest congratulations to all those who embarked on new journeys 🌟 & we sincerely root for all others who are determined to pursue their future goals 💪🏽
New Trends – Undeniably, 2024 marked a new frigid dawn of AI 🌅 The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month reported the continued mindless rampant adoption of AI 🤖 while the ongoing World Economic Forum at Davos focuses on rebuilding trust in AI ⚖️, among other agenda items. Waking us up from the holiday slumbers, the Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently projected that AI will displace 40% jobs globally, with a range of displacements based on location and vocation!
Ugly Reality – Unfortunately, the trendy mass layoffs that started (and continue daily!) in the tech industry 📉 now extend to all other sectors, including ours; YIKES! The year kick-started with Frontiers announcing laying off 600 of its 2000 employee workforce worldwide in a bid “to stay agile & mission-driven!”
Hopeful Future – Undoubtedly, we are experiencing strong headwinds 💨 projected to turn the tide 🌊 rather quickly for an industry that is known to otherwise move at glacial speeds 🐢 However, there is hope for emerging opportunities within the workforce as the nature of work itself may evolve; perhaps we can leverage the blueprint proposed by big tech to accelerate AI skills in the current workforce to gain from their historical/institutional knowledge?
Fearful Thoughts – Our industry witnessed massive amicable consolidation in ‘23 with acquired orgs (so far) retaining their cultures as well as employees 🫱🏽🫲🏽 With focus on generating ROI 📈 from investments in companies, personnel, and all processes AI-mediated, a sudden abundance of (laid off) talent seeking a new home, and the predicted replacement of the workforce focusing on knowledge & creative work, perhaps the coming year can be more disruptive than previously anticipated?
Peaceful Coexistence – In the not-so-dystopian world ☮️ there remains hope for retention of human workforce as generative AI and humans learn to coexist for improved efficiencies and potentially better outcomes.
Quick Summaries
At a 2024 consumer electronics show, AI gets companies on the same page: The world’s biggest tech convention focussed heavily on AI and shifted the focus from “technology powering experiences to experiences powered by technology.” Of course, there is the underlying chatter about regulation and its potential impact on innovation.
World Economic Forum 2024 kicks off in Davos with “Rebuilding Trust” as key theme: This year’s agenda focuses on trade, climate change, and of course, AI to align with the overall theme of “Rebuilding Trust.” The six critical themes of the event include economic resilience, energy transformation, globalization, productive artificial intelligence, strengthening institutions, and women's health. “The forum explores the impact of the technological revolution, sustainability, and the rise of populism.”
AI will affect 40% of jobs and probably worsen inequality, says IMF head: The head of the IMF cautions countries to “build social safety nets to mitigate the impact on vulnerable workers.” Besides enhancing the performance of the workforce, AI seriously threatens the livelihood of all workers, ranging from 40% to 60% based on location. “This would amplify the increase in income and wealth inequality that results from enhanced capital returns that accrue to high earners,” the IMF report said.
Source: www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2024/01/14/Gen-AI-Artificial-Intelligence-and-the-Future-of-Work-542379?cid=bl-com-SDNEA2024001.
The next chapter for Frontiers: to the open access tipping point: To continue to embrace open science while integrating AI-enabled innovation, Frontiers layed off 30% of its global workforce for more agility & quality at scale! The pandemic fueled the further rise of Frontiers but as the pandemic fades, research integrity takes center stage, and once paywalled journals embrace OA, Frontiers faces a more competitive and uncertain future.
Figure 6. Frontiers’ monthly papers by region at its peak (Jul 2022 to Sep 2022) and in recent months (May 2023 to Jul 2023). Based on data from OpenAlex and Frontiers’ website
Source: http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/09/18/guest-post-reputation-and-publication-volume-at-mdpi-and-frontiers-the-1b-question
Five ways generative AI will transform scholarly publishing David Flanagan who is senior director, generative AI product strategy, Wiley shares the five ways Gen AI will change scholarly publishing. These are “Literature Reviews and Knowledge Synthesis Will Evolve, New Research Avenues Will Emerge, Authors Will Benefit from AI While Writing Research, New Tools to Ensure Research Integrity Will Be Deployed, and The Role of Scholarly Publishers Will Evolve.”
Accelerating AI skills: Preparing the workforce for jobs of the future: This AWS & Access Partnership report explores the emerging AI usage trends in the context of the future workforce in various domains. The report highlights the benefits of adopting AI by both individuals as well as organizations.
Source: https://accesspartnership.com/global-ai-skills-study/
AI-powered digital colleagues are here. Some 'safe' jobs could be vulnerable AI tools like ChatGPT pose a threat to knowledge workers. Policymakers are attempting to address AI's economic impact, emphasizing the need for regulation. The challenge for white-collar workers demands proactive measures for balanced AI integration.
Gen AI and the future of work While enhancing productivity across sectors, it marks a shift in automation's impact, affecting more-educated workers. Despite task automation, gen AI is not expected to significantly reduce workforce size, signifying a transformative era for how we work.
Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/quarterly/the-five-fifty/five-fifty-gen-ai-and-the-future-of-work
Avi’s AI Tool Spotlight:
SciencePod: Augmenting research impact with AI summarisation & newsfeeds
SciencePOD specializes in the creation of clear, concise and compelling digital content telling the story of the latest research discoveries. They have developed AI summarisation solutions designed to enhance scientists' productivity and provide access to the latest research findings without spending too much time getting to the key findings.
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