Artificial intelligence through the prism of thematic research on ResearchGate web portal

Different instances of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in a short time have made a significant impact on the world’s economic and political scene. Before October 2022, processes of automatization and robotization of manufacturing didn’t have an immediate connection with artificial intelligence in the minds of most people. But mass and sudden infiltration of GenAI into the everyday life of many people around the world caused an immediate reaction from scientists, public figures, politicians, managers and heads of whole sectors of the economy. Thousands of scientific articles on related topics were published in the last two years: everyone at once started talking about fantastic possibilities, and also threats, which this new technology can usher in for our societies. Thus, for public thinking GenAI finally linked automatization with artificial intelligence. This paper provides an analysis of problems and prospects, through which scientists are trying to understand different societal processes linked to adoption of AI. For this purpose, the author of this paper analyzed the contents of papers published on this topic on the ResearchGate web portal in 2023, with the choice of the source for representative material motivated by scientific credibility of ResearchGate combined with its wide reach. Ten most popular articles were specifically targeted for final analysis, through which societal trends brought on by AI adoption were described. Although a selective meta-analysis of articles published during the first year after ChatGPT release can’t provide a full understanding of AI potential and possible threats to society, the conclusion can still be reached that a cardinal shift in society’s attitudes towards its own future is required. From the ten articles analyzed, four are related to changes required to the education system, four are about AI’s influence on the labour market, one article talks about the possibility of AI-human competition and one is about the AI potential in agriculture. Most articles mention the need for legislative changes in terms of labor protection and education reforms in-line with new digital reality.