Generics in science communication: Misaligned interpretations across laypeople, scientists, and large language models
#generics #Large Language Models #ChatGPT #scientific communication #overgeneralization #arXiv #data interpretation
📌 Key Takeaways
- Generics are unquantified statements that apply findings to broad categories without specific statistical qualifiers.
- Scientists and AI models frequently use generic language, which can lead the general public to overestimate the certainty or universality of research.
- Large Language Models like ChatGPT tend to mirror the generalized tone of scientific abstracts, potentially amplifying misinformation.
- The study argues that misaligned interpretations of these statements pose a risk to accurate science communication and public understanding.
📖 Full Retelling
🏷️ Themes
Science Communication, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics
📚 Related People & Topics
ChatGPT
Generative AI chatbot by OpenAI
ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. It was released in November 2022. It uses generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), such as GPT-5, to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. It is credited with accelerating the AI boom, an ongoing...
Large language model
Type of machine learning model
A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. The largest and most capable LLMs are generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) that provide the c...
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- 🌐 Artificial intelligence (3 shared articles)
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- 🌐 Growth (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Sam Altman (1 shared articles)
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- 🌐 Meta (1 shared articles)
- 🏢 Google (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Wealth management (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Chatbot (1 shared articles)
📄 Original Source Content
arXiv:2602.06190v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Scientists often use generics, that is, unquantified statements about whole categories of people or phenomena, when communicating research findings (e.g., "statins reduce cardiovascular events"). Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, frequently adopt the same style when summarizing scientific texts. However, generics can prompt overgeneralizations, especially when they are interpreted differently across audiences. In a study comparing l