The Competence Crisis: A Design Fiction on AI-Assisted Research in Software Engineering

2026-01-27

AI Summary

This study addresses growing concerns that the pervasive integration of generative AI in software engineering research risks eroding researchers’ domain expertise, blurring academic accountability, and undermining the credibility of scholarly outputs. For the first time, the project employs Design Fiction as a systematic analytical tool, combining community survey data to construct speculative artifacts depicting near-future research scenarios. These artifacts reveal potential crises in research capabilities precipitated by overreliance on AI assistance. By presenting a cautionary future narrative, the work prompts the academic community to critically reflect on the boundaries of AI use, the evolving definition of research competence, and the necessary reconfiguration of scholarly trust frameworks—thereby catalyzing deeper discourse on normative practices for research in the AI era.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Artificial General Intelligence
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Procedural Content Generation & Storytelling
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web

Abstract

Rising publication pressure and the routine use of generative AI tools are reshaping how software engineering research is produced, assessed, and taught. While these developments promise efficiency, they also raise concerns about skill degradation, responsibility, and trust in scholarly outputs. This vision paper employs Design Fiction as a methodological lens to examine how such concerns might materialise if current practices persist. Drawing on themes reported in a recent community survey, we construct a speculative artifact situated in a near future research setting. The fiction is used as an analytical device rather than a forecast, enabling reflection on how automated assistance might impede domain knowledge competence, verification, and mentoring practices. By presenting an intentionally unsettling scenario, the paper invites discussion on how the software engineering research community in the future will define proficiency, allocate responsibility, and support learning.

Problem

• competence crisis
• AI-assisted research
• software engineering
• generative AI
• research integrity

Innovation

• Design Fiction
• Generative AI
• Competence Crisis
• Software Engineering Research
• AI-Assisted Research