How AI Will Fragment the Canonical Research Paper

Short summary

AI-powered dynamic updates to research papers will create multiple forking versions rather than single canonical texts, fundamentally restructuring academic publishing. This shifts authority from authors to evolving version networks and raises trust questions. The research paper as a fixed artifact gives way to a living ecosystem.

• •AI enables live-updating papers with new data, creating multiple versions instead of one canonical paper
• •Non-author-created versions become the norm, raising questions about authenticity and scholarly trust
• •Academic publishing faces structural change as versioning becomes central to how knowledge is curated

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.