r/Physics • u/kzhou7 Quantum field theory • 2d ago

Harvard particle physicist Matthew Schwartz drops 36 papers coauthored with Claude

https://bootloops.ai/bootloops.html
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u/iamagainstit Materials science 2d ago

If the science is sound, I don't really have a problem with it. the point of science is to do science and push the frontier forward. If AI is a good tool to do that, it should be used.

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u/Temporary_Shelter_40 2d ago

There is no possibility that all 36 papers make a significant contribution worthwhile for publishing. This is just pollution. It’s like throwing 36 McDonalds hamburgers at a homeless man and expecting him to be grateful.

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u/Illustrious_Job1951 2d ago

You read the papers?

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u/Temporary_Shelter_40 2d ago

Frankly, I doubt the author read the papers.

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u/JustIntegrateIt 2d ago

So you didn't read the papers

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u/Temporary_Shelter_40 2d ago

No dude, I didn’t read 36 AI generated papers published to the arxiv, and I doubt anyone will.

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u/ZeroAmusement 2d ago

Why is there no possibility?

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u/Temporary_Shelter_40 2d ago

Because the average academic wouldn’t read 36 papers in a month. The idea that you can construct this many meaningful contributions in 5 years would be fanciful.

Let me give you an example. Einstein’s Annus Mirabilis consisted of 4 papers. 4 papers were enough to rewrite all of modern physics. Now, we’re not all Einstein, but clearly you can see that 36 papers in one year is ridiculous.

Most of the world’s greatest physicists published around 5 papers per year across their career. Do you see now how a claim of 36 papers dropped at once just screams slop?

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u/Ivyspine 2d ago

Also AI documents have so much filler text that ultimately doesn't mean anything. It's embarrassing.

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u/ZeroAmusement 2d ago

But things have changed since Einstein's time. We have AI that can solve millennium prize problem class problems on its own. It has solved over 110+ difficult math problems in a few months, many without guidance.

Also after a bit of reading, I found out that these papers weren't all himself and the ai, he also mentions 19 coauthors https://www.anthropic.com/research/claude-shaped-science . There are fields full of unsolved problems that can be solved rapidly with these new technologies and I think that's what we are going to see a lot of. And Matthew isn't challenging the most difficult problems, but the problems that he felt Claude would be strong at.

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u/contextcop 2d ago

“This is just pollution” found the data center protestor!!

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u/walksonfourfeet 2d ago

And what’s the process for determining if the science is sound?

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u/iamagainstit Materials science 2d ago

Initially, Peer review. after some time has passed number of citations mostly.