Holding the Scalpel: Scientific Authorship and Responsibility in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Scientific writing and authorship are fundamentally acts of professional judgment and responsibility. This essay examines these principles in the era of increasingly fluent generative artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that scientific integrity—much like surgical mastery—depends on a level of earned comprehension and accountability that no algorithm can simulate. Drawing on a surgical experience in a resource-limited setting to illustrate the nature of judgment under uncertainty, the piece explores how the rise of AI risks replacing genuine expertise with hollow fluency. The essay concludes that judgment and responsibility must remain irreducibly human in both surgical practice and scientific authorship.