Beyond the hype: How AI could change the game for social science research

By training AI models, social scientists could more precisely simulate human behavioural responses in their research. (Shutterstock)

With the emergence of advanced AI systems, the way social science research is conducted could change. Social sciences have historically relied on traditional research methods to gain a better understanding of individuals, groups, cultures and their dynamics.

Large language models are becoming increasingly capable of imitating human-like responses. As my colleagues and I describe in a recent Science article, this opens up opportunities to test theories on a larger scale and with much greater speed.