Scientific authorship in the time of ChatGPT

Maybe two decades ago, my friend Thomas was working on his PhD thesis in quantum gravity. He had some awfully complicated equations to solve and started using a software application that allowed high-level algebraic manipulations. Thomas could solve in a few seconds equations that would take him days on paper and pen and with fewer chances of making a mistake!

But Thomas’ supervisor was not happy with his automated solution. He claimed he could not rely on the computer’s answer. However, I suspect that he had an unexpressed moral objection, a belief that using a computer to solve the problem was cheating. At last, the supervisor compromised: Thomas could use the application but must verify each answer in the traditional way. After a few months of outstanding progress, the supervisor dropped his demand, and Thomas was entirely free to rely on the computer.