I had the opportunity to check out ChatGPT this week. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations. There has been so much chatter about this tool, that I was sure that there was more hype than substance. I decided to give it an hour to see what it was all about. My very first impression was that it is actually much more like a research project or proof of concept than a product.
Transparency is essential to trust and efficiency in research. In light of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, there has been increasing discussion about the importance of past and evolving research related to the virus and disease. Ensuring researchers have access to past data and findings that may provide insights is urgent and important, and fortunately is getting some attention with efforts like LitCovid, an open-resource literature hub for COVID scholarship. Despite this encouraging development, it is important that we don’t lose sight of the importance of research transparency in reinforcing the goals of efficiency, efficacy, and long-term trust in biomedical research.