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AI tools are spotting errors in research papers: inside a growing movement

Large language models are being used to check papers, but researchers warn they come with risks.
By
  1. Elizabeth Gibney
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Late last year, media outlets worldwide warned that black plastic cooking utensils contained worrying levels of cancer-linked flame retardants. The risk was found to be overhyped — a mathematical error in the underlying research suggested a key chemical exceeded the safe limit when in fact it was ten times lower than the limit. Keen-eyed researchers quickly showed that an artificial intelligence (AI) model could have spotted the error in seconds.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00648-5

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 11 March 2025: This story has been updated to give more detail on the current abilities of, and concerns about, AI tools being used to check papers.

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