Homeacademic publishingNew OpenAI tool renews fears that “AI slop” will overwhelm scientific research

New OpenAI tool renews fears that “AI slop” will overwhelm scientific research

academic publishingJanuary 29, 2026
1 min read
New OpenAI tool renews fears that “AI slop” will overwhelm scientific research
New "Prism" workspace launches just as studies show AI-assisted papers are flooding journals with diminished quality. ...

On Tuesday, OpenAI released a free AI-powered workspace for scientists. It's called Prism, and it has drawn immediate skepticism from researchers who fear the tool will accelerate the already overwhelming flood of low-quality papers into scientific journals. The launch coincides with growing alarm among publishers about what many are calling "AI slop" in academic publishing.

To be clear, Prism is a writing and formatting tool, not a system for conducting research itself, though OpenAI's broader pitch blurs that line.

Prism integrates OpenAI's GPT-5.2 model into a LaTeX-based text editor (a standard used for typesetting documents), allowing researchers to draft papers, generate citations, create diagrams from whiteboard sketches, and collaborate with co-authors in real time. The tool is free for anyone with a ChatGPT account.

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Source: Ars Technica

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