Author or prompter? Scientific writing, identity, and the Theseus paradox

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Akgün M.

Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM, cilt.20, sa.1, ss.29, 2025 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Kısa Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 20 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1186/s13010-025-00195-x
  • Dergi Adı: Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Philosopher's Index, Psycinfo, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.29
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Artificial intelligence, Authorship accountability, Intellectual property, Prompt engineering, Publication ethics, Scientific authorship, Ship of theseus
  • Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Scientific authorship is undergoing a subtle but profound transformation. With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the boundary between human contribution and machine assistance is increasingly blurred. This article explores how AI-assisted scientific writing challenges traditional definitions of authorship, accountability, and intellectual ownership. Drawing on both identity debates and contribution-based accounts, it argues that the growing role of AI in manuscript production demands a reconsideration of contributor roles, transparency, and recognition. Using the Ship of Theseus as a guiding metaphor, the argument shows how authorship can be reconceived when human-authored components are progressively replaced with AI-generated content. The central concern is not whether AI should be credited, but how the human contribution, control, and accountability should be tracked and attributed when AI mediates linguistic or argumentative content. A set of policy measures is proposed-linking existing authorship standards to disclosure thresholds, contributor roles, and an empirical programme for monitoring AI use-to preserve credibility and accountability.