University of Waterloo's Gautam Kamath advises researchers against using generative AI for academic slides and posters
He argues AI tools compromise a speaker's authentic voice
#80Sander Dieleman@SEDIELEMGreat advice that also applies to writing blog posts!
Gautam Kamath@thegautamkamathIn the last 48h: - Jr researcher asked me wheter to use AI in making talks - Saw two talks, with AI {slop, enhanced} slides Collected my thoughts and wrote a post. Tl;dr: don't steal your own thinking, don't remove *you* from your talks. Also, give a &#@% about your talks.
In the last 48h: - Jr researcher asked me wheter to use AI in making talks - Saw two talks, with AI {slop, enhanced} slides
Collected my thoughts and wrote a post. Tl;dr: don't steal your own thinking, don't remove *you* from your talks. Also, give a &#@% about your talks.
Gautam Kamath@thegautamkamathIn the last 48h: - Jr researcher asked me wheter to use AI in making talks - Saw two talks, with AI {slop, enhanced} slides Collected my thoughts and wrote a post. Tl;dr: don't steal your own thinking, don't remove *you* from your talks. Also, give a &#@% about your talks.
#726Nan Jiang@NANJIANG_CSMaking slides for a new talk takes painfully long for me and AI-accelerated slides making has always been the No.1 use of AI I'm looking for, as often times I came up with an idea and it took minutes if not longer to implement it. so far unfortunately AI has not been helpful...
Gautam Kamath@thegautamkamathIn the last 48h: - Jr researcher asked me wheter to use AI in making talks - Saw two talks, with AI {slop, enhanced} slides Collected my thoughts and wrote a post. Tl;dr: don't steal your own thinking, don't remove *you* from your talks. Also, give a &#@% about your talks.
with the exception that it can generate pretty nice illustrations like the following I used in a recent talk
Nan Jiang@nanjiang_csMaking slides for a new talk takes painfully long for me and AI-accelerated slides making has always been the No.1 use of AI I'm looking for, as often times I came up with an idea and it took minutes if not longer to implement it. so far unfortunately AI has not been helpful...
@thegautamkamath agree 100%
Gautam Kamath@thegautamkamathIn the last 48h: - Jr researcher asked me wheter to use AI in making talks - Saw two talks, with AI {slop, enhanced} slides Collected my thoughts and wrote a post. Tl;dr: don't steal your own thinking, don't remove *you* from your talks. Also, give a &#@% about your talks.
#1863Jessica Hullman@JESSICAHULLMANI wrote up some related thoughts on metascientific consequences of AI-generated slides & ideas diluting the impression that speakers are committed to what they're presenting.
It's not just a case of putting style over substance. Science runs on personal attachments.
link below
Jessica Hullman@JessicaHullmanAlso cringe when faculty you respect present straight-from-AI slides at prestigious events, as if it's always been their style to grid things to death, use full sentences, headers, footers everywhere & phrases like “principal levers” & “governing friction” & “salient features” 1/
@thegautamkamath I like the post! Wrote up some related thoughts on metascientific consequences of AI-generated slides & ideas diluting the impression that speakers are committed to what they're presenting. Science runs on personal attachments more than we like to admit. https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/05/28/what-if-scientists-really-were-dispassionate-observers-communicating-ideas-without-irrational-commitment-look-here-says-ai/
Gautam Kamath@thegautamkamathhttps://kamathematics.wordpress.com/2026/05/27/making-a-talk-without-and-with-ai/