Amplifying Research
50. Collaborative Research – AI: Dr Sawsan Khuri on what happens to trust when your team starts using AI
View the full show notes, including a summary of practical tips on the Amplifying Research website: https://www.amplifyingresearch.com/podcast/50-sawsan-khuri Generative AI has quickly become part of how many researchers work. But in most teams, the conversation about how it's being used, which tools are trusted, and who's checking the outputs simply hasn't happened yet. Dr Sawsan Khuri argues that transparency is key if we want AI to strengthen, rather than fracture, our research collaborations. She talks us through practical tips for bringing AI into your team's work openly. This is the final episode in our three-part miniseries based on the book How to Succeed at Collaborative Research , co-authored by Sawsan, Howard Gadlin, and Dr L. Michelle Bennett. All three authors join the conversation — Michelle and Howard open the episode by sharing where they each sit with AI right now, before Sawsan takes the deep dive on what it means for collaborative research. The series wraps up with each author offering a final takeaway from the book. Sawsan teaches medical genetics at the University of Exeter and runs a consulting company, Collaborative Capacities. She describes herself as an AI practitioner — someone who uses multiple AI platforms daily in her research, navigates the thorny challenge of assessing students when AI-generated answers are everywhere, and works with research teams to build the transparency habits she advocates for in this episode. In episode 48 , Michelle explored the collaborative mindset: the self-awareness, trust, and structured agreements that hold a team together. In episode 49 , Howard unpacked what decades of mediating scientific disputes taught him about turning conflict into something productive. This episode extends those same principles — trust, transparency, open conversation — into the fast-moving territory of AI. "If there are skeptics in that room, you need to also bring them into that task. You're inviting them into the game by saying, 'Would you check it for me?' Be very transparent about what prompts you're using so that people can check you and check the results. That way you've started that two-way communication about let's do this together as a team." — Sawsan Khuri Whether you're a research leader trying to set a team-wide approach to AI, an operations lead looking for practical frameworks to guide the conversation, or an early-career researcher wondering whether it's OK to admit you've been using ChatGPT — this episode offers a concrete, non-judgmental path forward Our conversation covers: How researchers are using generative AI right now: literature search, information gathering, and beyond The three layers of transparency: what you're using AI for, which tool and why, and how you're checking the outputs Trust at three levels — trusting yourself with prompts, trusting the tool, and earning your team's trust The counterintuitive way to bring AI skeptics on board Agentic AI: Stanford's virtual lab of AI agents and what it means for interdisciplinary research Vibe coding and the checks and balances it demands Why governance and regulation are coming to academic AI use Human curiosity and integrative thinking How to start the AI conversation if your team hasn't had one yet A cautionary tale: what happened when grad students used AI to write code without telling anyone The series wrap-up: each author's final takeaway from How to Succeed at Collaborative Research Find Sawsan online: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sawsan-khuri Collaborative Capacities — https://collaborativecapacities.com Find Howard online: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-gadlin-850431b5 Find Michelle online: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/l-michelle-bennett-50855a10 LMBennett Consulting — https://www.lmbennettconsulting.com Things mentioned: How to Succeed at Collaborative Research Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide Stanford's Virtual Lab of AI Agents — Stanford Report Vibe Coding Omics Data Analysis Applications — Jesse Meyer, Journal of Proteome Research OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man)
