The Future of AI and Academia: Mushtaq Bilal
When it comes to postgraduate research, it is reassuring to know that you can find ways to simplify the process of academic writing. Mushtaq Bilal is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. He is a trailblazer in the field of AI-assisted academic writing, empowering thousands of students to enhance their research through his tutorials and webinars. I was lucky enough to talk to Mushtaq, who has an impressive education, studying Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. Currently, Mushtaq is juggling a busy career, studying the work of the Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson, and creating social media content, gaining a following of over 223k on X alone.
JMR: Could you tell me a little about yourself and the work you have been doing, helping over 4,5000 academics become more efficient writers using AI?
MB: When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, it made intuitive sense to me. I had been creating content on academic writing before one of my threads on ChatGPT went viral on X.
Twitter was where I found a community in academia. I had built a following of 60,000 followers, then that tweet shattered all the gates and records for me and even now has millions of views.
You can build a good, sizeable, engaged audience by delivering valuable content and advice on how to use AI efficiently. There is a method to the madness of Twitter. It takes a lot of self-reflection, to simplify and present very complex knowledge in an accessible way. You need to identify your niche and figure out the kind of community you want to create. I have helped over 4,500 people to become efficient academic writers, who have attended webinars or purchased my tutorial.
In 2023, I did 42 talks around the world. I flew to several different countries across Europe. Attended online webinars in the USA, Canada, and Australia, waking up early in the morning.
This year, I am focusing on my own research and won’t be doing as many talks I did 52 events in a year, one per week, which means you don’t have time to process what is happening, which is why I created an online AI tutorial, which is accessible for everyone.
JMR: You are juggling a lot of responsibilities. You are working at the University of Southern Denmark, as a Postdoctoral Researcher. You’re a husband and a father. So what is it that inspired you to create your tutorials on utilising AI for academic writing and help so many professors and students adopt this technology?
MB: It is flattering that people find your work helpful and that you’re making a difference in somebody's career and work. I often tell my colleagues and friends to buy a ChatGPT subscription because it is money well spent. Think of it as an investment into your future skill-building.
I received a message the other day and one of my followers bought a subscription to Consensus. By just using this AI search engine tool for research, he was able to figure out what was wrong with his father’s health, which had eluded diagnosis. An AI tool I had Tweeted about and recommended helped somebody who was suffering from a disease, and I was just a small part of guiding them to the help they needed.
JMR: There is so much authenticity in what you write. How do you structure your day? Do you create content ahead of time?
MB: That is a good question. Thank you for bringing this up. I would have never figured it out on my own. When I started writing content on Twitter, there was this huge pressure to have a system to build a routine. I would write 20 Tweets, with 20 screenshots, and then it would take ages to upload. Initially, I was foolish. I never had a backup. I would write the main thread of the Tweet and then something changed with the algorithm and Twitter ate up the threads that I had spent two to three hours writing. Now all my posts are unscheduled, so that is why you may see a lot of typos in my threads.
I write what I want to write and if I don’t have anything to say, I will just keep my mouth shut and I will not post anything. I don’t care about typos and small mistakes, and any serious reader doesn’t either. You figure out what the community wants after repeated trial and error.
JMR: How do you anticipate AI will reshape the landscape of higher education and the job market, particularly in terms of academic roles, teaching methodologies, and career opportunities for graduates?
MB: ChatGPT has been around for more than a year now and still, there is a huge resistance in academia to embrace it and AI technology in general. There is a whole debate about authenticity; my outlook on writing and academia is pragmatic. I started writing, and I presented an idea that you can use ChatGPT while staying within the established norms of academia. You can make the whole writing process more efficient.
Here, at the University of Denmark, I have been telling my colleagues, and I created a presentation to the Boards of Directors, that we should have an AI task force and act pre-emptively and proactively. AI technology is not going away, and we need to know how to teach our students how the education system has to imagine writing assignments.
A few of my colleagues were already familiar with my work because of Twitter and they started inviting me to talk. I kept saying this over and over: we need to develop an AI task force to support my students, colleagues, professors, and followers online.
Students enrolling in 2024 will graduate in 2028. We have zero idea what the job market will be like in the next four to six years. If AI technology keeps going like this, if we do not teach our students on how to use AI apps, we will put them at a massive disadvantage.
For example, if you have two candidates applying for one job, and one of those students has a PhD in English Literature and has a strong background in AI technology but the second student has published four papers but cannot even spell AI, any department will have to consider the candidate with the AI experience.
Students are the product; they reflect how the university is performing. If universities do not teach their students how to use AI, or embrace tools like ChatGPT, then realistically they are not preparing them to go into the workplace. That is a disservice to the student.
JMR: What are the obstacles to adopting AI tools for writing, and how do you recommend overcoming these?
MB: I have a Humanities PhD and I think a lot of humanities professors are reluctant to think about AI. My concern is that humanities are already side-lined. There is a lot of value in reading and writing. Somebody, like me, who comes from a working-class family must think that poems and novels are all very good, but you need to put food on the table. I think the priority for any department should be to equip students to become healthy, productive members of the workforce and make a meaningful contribution to society, regardless of the subject or discipline.
JMR: I have a Masters in Comparative Literature from King’s College London and I completely agree. Having a humanities degree is valuable as it teaches students how to empathise, troubleshoot problems and look at the world from a different perspective. As you said, there seems to be such a reluctance for humanity departments to include AI in the classroom. I think teaching students soft skills and understanding that humanities and creativity are still valuable assets to have in the workplace. I do not believe AI can do my job. I can do my job better alongside AI.
MB: Absolutely. I have my PhD in Comparative Literature AND I want to make humanities sexy.
I often tell students that there is $100,000 sitting between their ears. You just have to know how to cash your imagination. I know this because last year, I did cash my $100,000.
We teach our students how to write and share their knowledge with the world.
My discussion with Mushtaq made me realise that the synergy between the humanities and AI technology represents an untapped potential that may revolutionise how we approach problems and how we envision the future of academia. By embracing AI as a tool for study and work for researchers and academics, we can unlock a new chapter for human creativity and technological advancements.
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