Hi all, Given recent discussions around the impact of AI on research generally and libraries in particular, I thought I would mention another possible implication of open access. In recent months, I've been working with Microsoft Copilot, as our university has rolled out a protected instance of it. A colleague and I poked and prodded it extensively in the service of developing a workshop around responsible use of AI as a research tool, and one thing we both noticed was that it can only surface peer-reviewed sources that are open access. For those unfamiliar with Copilot and similar systems, these LLMs can interface with content on the open web, unlike ChatGPT. However, they can't get around a paywall, regardless of whether your institution has the relevant subscriptions. Now, more advanced AI-powered research tools that allow users to build their own curated libraries (you can probably think of some) can access paywalled research so long as the user has uploaded it (which may create licensing friction, but I digress). But Copilot is something anyone on any device can pull up and use for free to ask natural language questions and get answers with associated references. So, an additional incentive authors might have to make their work open access is knowing it can be highlighted as a source by these public LLMs. Before anyone says, "but serious researchers at academic institutions are more likely to use proprietary databases for their searching/discovery", please bear in mind the popularity of Google Scholar. In my experience, given how rapidly Google has degraded their search experience of late, Copilot now works better as a general search tool, so I don't see any reason it couldn't challenge Google Scholar for academic search. I submit, then, that AI creates an additional incentive for savvy authors who want to broaden the impact of their research to make it open access. And librarians like us that already struggle to get our users to search comprehensively face yet another barrier to connecting them to the content we actually subscribe to. Curious to hear others' thoughts on this. Ali Krzton, Research Data Management Librarian Auburn University ######################################################################## Access the OPENCAFE-L Home Page and Archives: https://listserv.byu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=OPENCAFE-L To unsubscribe from OPENCAFE-L send an email to: [log in to unmask] ########################################################################