Enhancing academic conferences with AI: defining the role of the human AI editor

Abstract

Academic conferences serve as key platforms for knowledge exchange, yet they face challenges in managing large volumes of content efficiently while maintaining academic rigor. To address these challenges, this study introduces and evaluates the "AI editor": a novel human expert role who, using tools like ChatGPT, supervises, refines, and structures artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content in real time. Through a mixed-methods approach, we examine the role of AI in enhancing content creation and engagement. This approach included the experimental deployment of the AI editor in three sustainability-focused European academic conferences (in Spain and UK) and formative workshops with 127 university students from the same countries. While AI-assisted tools improve efficiency, concerns persist regarding traceability, reliability, and ethical oversight. Our findings indicate that AI by itself cannot guarantee scholarly integrity; continuous human oversight is indispensable. The AI editor ensures coherence, quality control, and compliance with academic standards, addressing a critical gap in AI adoption within research environments. This study contributes to the discourse on responsible AI use in academia by proposing a structured framework for its integration into conferences, balancing automation with human oversight. Moreover, it highlights the growing need for digital intelligence that enables researchers to interact ethically and effectively with AI and other digital technologies, fostering responsible and informed academic innovation.