Scientists will have their work checked by artificial intelligence (AI) as well as humans for the first time as part of a government-funded trial. The trial is being done with Sage publishing and the Royal Society.

Spearheading the initiative is Lord Vallance, the recently appointed Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion and the UK’s science minister. Vallance is set to make the announcement regarding a number of new AI initiatives next Thursday.

In an attempt to provide scientists with more time to focus on their research, AI will be used for time-consuming tasks such as peer reviewing.

Peer review is a process where scientists read and evaluate the preliminary work of other researchers, ensuring quality and correctness before it is published.

“AI presents new opportunities in a range of sectors, and if researchers can demonstrate its potential to increase transparency, robustness and trust in science then this could pave the way to freeing them up from mundane paperwork tasks while driving growth,” Vallance told The Telegraph.

£4.8 million has been invested in the project, which has been shared between 23 research projects dedicated to finding AI’s place in science. This is in addition to £1.8 million from the US organisation Open Philanthropy.

Vallance, in his role as champion of the Oxbridge corridor, is required to report directly to the Chancellor. In conversation with The Telegraph, a Vallance has said that he wanted to replicate the success of the Vaccine Taskforce (VTF). The VTF allowed for private sector individuals to be integrated into the Whitehall machine in 2020 to help the government to source, buy, and distribute a Covid vaccine as quickly as possible.

Vallance has said he hopes for Oxford, London and Cambridge to become “Europe’s Silicon Valley”.

The decision to trial AI in peer review work comes after the University of Cambridge recorded its first cases of academic misconduct involving AI. Three cases of AI-related academic misconduct occurred between 25 November 2023 and 24 November 2024.

Last year, the Human Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) Faculty scrapped online exams after concerns that “too many” of their students were using AI in assessments.

Prior to this, the HSPS Faculty published an open letter asking students to reject the use of AI in academic work as it threatened to “rob you of the opportunity to learn,” and warning them that “under no circumstances should the text generated by such AI-assisted tools be presented as your own work”.