Nearly 30% of US STEM PhD dissertations now have AI-generated abstracts, NBER study finds
joshgans · x · 2026-11-11
An NBER working paper (w35859) by Daniel P. Gross and co-authors quantifies AI offloading in PhD training:
- Nearly 30% of US STEM PhD dissertations in H1 2026 had AI-generated abstracts, correlating with more AI writing in the full text
- Only 25% of R1 universities have policies specifically governing AI use in dissertation research
- Under 5% of dissertations acknowledge AI use
The authors warn the institutional response is lackluster while the next generation outsources core scientific writing.
Related event: Study finds nearly 30% of US STEM dissertations have AI-generated abstracts(5 posts)→
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