# AI in Science: Progress or Peril?

Hervé Suandeau

► To cite this version:

Hervé Suandeau. AI in Science: Progress or Peril?. SPPIN retreat 2025, Apr 2025, Dourdan, France.
hal-05328920v2

HAL Id: hal-05328920

https://hal.science/hal-05328920v2

Submitted on 24 Oct 2025

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# AI IN SCIENCE: PROGRESS OR PERIL?

Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, are triggering a new industrial revolution that is disrupting all intellectual professions, especially scientific research. However, harnessing these remarkable capabilities without compromising ethical standards and planetary boundaries represents one of today's most critical challenges.

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## LLM RELIABILITY

1080 researchers in health materials in USA:

**+44%** Productivity

**82%** Less Satisfied

Toner-Rodgers, A. Artificial Intelligence, scientific discovery, and product innovation. arXiv 2024, arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.17866.

**AI is a "Stochastic Parrot"**: Repeating without understanding, hallucinating with confidence.

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Image at top of post: "The Evolution of Intelligence", illustration by Bart Hawkins Kreps, posted under CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED license, adapted from "The Yin and Yang of Human Progress" (Wikimedia Commons), and from parrot illustration courtesy of Judith Kreps Hawkins.

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LIMITS: These results are based on rather subjective personal research, following a study of the terms of use and privacy policies of AI services and various comparative benchmarks.

## HIDDEN COSTS

**Data Leaks:** Research confidentiality is compromised when using public LLMs.

**Conflict Minerals:** AI hardware fuels violent mining in war zones

**Water Footprint:** Google's data centers consumption surged 82% in just 4 years

**Carbon Emission:** Google sacrificed its decade-long reduction goal in 2023 due to AI computing demand

**Tech Waste Surge:** AI shortens hardware lifespan from years to months

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## SOME SOURCES

* Sylvain Bouveret, Emmanuelle Frenoux, Laurent Lefèvre, Didier Mallarino, Denis Trystam. IA génératives : un oxymore ? JRES (Journées réseaux de l'enseignement et de la recherche ) 2024, Renater, Dec 2024, Rennes, France. (hal-04893830)
* Françoise Berthoud, Martine Olivi, Laurent Lefèvre. Beaucoup de verrous, peu de leviers ! Sobriété numérique : le cas est grave mais pas désespéré. JRES 2024 - Journées réseaux de l'enseignement et de la recherche, Renater, Dec 2024, Rennes, France. (hal-04893986)
* Jean-Luc Parouty, Soraya Arias. La face rose, grise et sombre de l'Intelligence Artificielle ! JRES (Journées réseaux de l'enseignement et de la recherche ) 2024, Renater, Dec 2024, Rennes, France. (hal-04893893)
* Pierre Noro. Penser les enjeux éthiques et écologiques de l'Intelligence Artificielle pour agir en commun. JRES (Journées réseaux de l'enseignement et de la recherche ) 2024, Renater, Dec 2024, Rennes, France. (hal-04893927)
* Formation Fidle 2024/2025 : introduction au Deep Learning de l'Institut d'Intelligence Artificielle MIAI de Grenoble, via le projet EFELIA, le CNRS et l'Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA). https://www.fidle.cns.fr
* David Janiszek; Aller plus loin avec les IA génératives, IA générative et pédagogie : vers de nouvelles approches pédagogiques, Université Paris Cité, Nov 2024, Paris, France

## UNSUSTAINABLE GROWTH

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## CODE OF CONDUCT

* ☑ Prefer Specialist Models - Like DeepL for translations (hosted in EU)
* ☑ Go Small & Open Source - Lower impact, higher ethics
* ☑ Self-Host for Sensitive Data - Your server, your control

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Ollama

* ☑ Public LLMs = Public Data - Assume everything is being harvested
* ☑ Question the Need - Is AI truly necessary for this task?

* ☑ If Must Use LLMs - Choose privacy-focused options (Le Chat Pro is much better than Claude, never use ChatGPT)

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LE CHAT
MISTRAL

* ☑ Key Question : "Does your use of AI make you proud?"

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