TY - JOUR
T1 - Start Generating
T2 - Harnessing Generative Artificial Intelligence for Sociological Research
AU - Davidson, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - How can generative artificial intelligence (GAI) be used for sociological research? The author explores applications to the study of text and images across multiple domains, including computational, qualitative, and experimental research. Drawing upon recent research and stylized experiments with DALL·E and GPT-4, the author illustrates the potential applications of text-to-text, image-to-text, and text-to-image models for sociological research. Across these areas, GAI can make advanced computational methods more efficient, flexible, and accessible. The author also emphasizes several challenges raised by these technologies, including interpretability, transparency, reliability, reproducibility, ethics, and privacy, as well as the implications of bias and bias mitigation efforts and the trade-offs between proprietary models and open-source alternatives. When used with care, these technologies can help advance many different areas of sociological methodology, complementing and enhancing our existing toolkits.
AB - How can generative artificial intelligence (GAI) be used for sociological research? The author explores applications to the study of text and images across multiple domains, including computational, qualitative, and experimental research. Drawing upon recent research and stylized experiments with DALL·E and GPT-4, the author illustrates the potential applications of text-to-text, image-to-text, and text-to-image models for sociological research. Across these areas, GAI can make advanced computational methods more efficient, flexible, and accessible. The author also emphasizes several challenges raised by these technologies, including interpretability, transparency, reliability, reproducibility, ethics, and privacy, as well as the implications of bias and bias mitigation efforts and the trade-offs between proprietary models and open-source alternatives. When used with care, these technologies can help advance many different areas of sociological methodology, complementing and enhancing our existing toolkits.
KW - artificial intelligence
KW - computational sociology
KW - large language models
KW - methodology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199408396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85199408396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/23780231241259651
DO - 10.1177/23780231241259651
M3 - Article
SN - 2378-0231
VL - 10
JO - Socius
JF - Socius
ER -