ERC grant applications surge 60% as AI turns research funding into a lottery
steverathje2 · x · 2026-10-29
Nature reports the ERC's Starting Grant program received 7,710 proposals for 2027 — up roughly 60% — pushing the estimated success rate to 4.8%, the lowest since the first 2007 call. ERC president Maria Leptin calls the number "a bit scary." Psychologist Jay Van Bavel argues this is one of AI's major problems: easy AI-assisted writing unleashes a tsunami of grant applications, turning already-random review into an outright lottery.
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