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NBER Working Papers · October 5, 2026 · On the brief until October 19, 2026

How Heavily Are PhD Students Offloading Their Scientific Writing to AI? Evidence from US STEM PhD Dissertations -- by Daniel P. Gross, Dror Shvadron, Hansen Zhang

Higher EducationAssessmentEconomics
THE AI ANGLE
Drafting doctoral dissertations

A study found AI writing in twenty-nine percent of US STEM doctoral dissertations by 2026. Graduates with AI-generated text were less likely to secure academic research positions, moving into industry or non-tenure-track roles instead. The findings link automated writing directly to different employment outcomes across the research labor market.

Summary written by AI Business Lens with an AI model from the article at nber.org. It is not the article, and the publisher has not reviewed it. For publishers.

THE TEACHING ANGLE
Faculty must consider whether AI text tools aid productivity or reduce the effort needed to build scientific expertise.

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