Using GenAI in Academic Research
It's important to explore possibilities of LLMs in higher education research—this article provides some great examples.
Generative AI, in particular large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, has the potential to revolutionize research in economics and other disciplines. I describe dozens of use cases along six domains in which LLMs are starting to become useful as both research assistants and tutors: ideation and feedback, writing, background research, data analysis, coding, and mathematical derivations. I provide general instructions and demonstrate specific examples of how to take advantage of each of these, classifying the LLM capabilities from experimental to highly useful. I argue that economists can reap significant productivity gains by taking advantage of LLMs to automate micro tasks. Moreover, these gains will grow as the performance of LLMs across all of these domains will continue to improve. I also speculate on the longer-term implications of cognitive automation via LLMs for economic research. The online resources associated with this paper provide regular updates on the latest capabilities of LLM that are useful for economists.