Software Underground Meetup: Ethical use of LLMs in scientific research and open-source software development
Tue, 29 Apr, 19:00–20:00 (CEST) Room N2
Tue, 19:00
Software Underground is a grassroots community of digital subsurface professionals engaged in a diverse array of topics, united by a common interest in open-source scientific software and open science. Our mission is to offer technical and professional development opportunities to the global earth sciences community while advocating for the use of open-source digital technologies in solid earth investigations.
LLMs are presented as time-saving tools for writing tasks and code generation. However, one of the pushing concerns regarding the wide use of LLMs is their environmental impact: from their increased demand of energy and clean water, up to the predicted amount of e-waste they'll generate in future years. The other concerning factor is their ability to produce inaccurate or even false statements, and how they replicate existing biases in our society. This is particularly relevant when learners use them to acquire new knowledge. They could also make the learning process more isolated, hindering the interaction with peers to challenge acquired knowledge or to build new knowledge in a collaborative environment.
During this meeting we'll discuss about the ethical use of LLMs and other AI tools in scientific research and software development. We'll explore the benefits of these novel tools can bring to scientific research, and what type concerns they raise. We'll also discuss how communities of peers can create alternative paths to gather new knowledge, make research more collaborative and build stronger professional relationships.
The discussion will be encouraged through a set of questions like:
- Do LLMs pose a threat to the global efforts to mitigate climate change?
- Do LLMs provide a viable way of learning computer science and software development skills?
- Is the learning process becoming more isolated through usage of LLMs?
- What ethical uses of LLMs and AI do exist?
- Can communities like Software Underground overcome the difficulties that LLMs have by fostering human-human interactions?
The conveners will promote group dialogues designed to encourage meaningful conversation between all participants, which will be captured in collaborative shared notes.
The oral presentations are given in a hybrid format supported by a Zoom meeting featuring on-site and virtual presentations. The button to access the Zoom meeting appears just before the time block starts.