Oxide and Friends

AI, Materials, and Fraud with Ben Shindel

9 snips
May 24, 2025
Ben Shindel, a material scientist known for his newsletter, The BS Detector, dives into the festering issues of academic integrity. He reveals the shocking discovery of a fraudulent economics paper claiming AI’s impact on materials research. The conversation spans whimsical critiques of Silicon Valley fraud and the gravity of academic deceit, like a recent MIT scandal. They tackle the fragile nature of reputation in research and the role of AI tools, highlighting both their potential benefits and ethical pitfalls in modern science.
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INSIGHT

Fabricated Claims in AI Research Paper

  • The paper's claims about AI dramatically boosting materials research productivity are highly suspect and likely fabricated.
  • The methodology and data representation raised immediate red flags to material scientists familiar with the field.
INSIGHT

Implausible Study Design and Results

  • The paper described a massive materials science AI trial at an implausibly large company with over 1,000 researchers.
  • The study's randomized roll-out, survey methods, and reported findings reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of materials science practice.
INSIGHT

Unrealistic Survey Compliance Expectation

  • The notion that a company could track detailed day-to-day ideation and construction time for over a thousand PhDs is unrealistic.
  • Survey participation and compliance at this scale with such granularity is practically impossible in corporate research environments.
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