Artificial intelligence continues to affect all walks of life. In the research sector, one probable outcome is the increasing importance of ethnography, as researchers migrate to the methods that give them an advantage over computers.
Ethnography, a way of collecting data that involves observing life as it happens instead of trying to manipulate it in a lab, has traditionally been downplayed in academic disciplines such as economics. But its possible adoption might require a wholesale change in the way graduate students are taught.
In the pre-AI age, the scientific method for doing research would typically start with observation and reflection by a human researcher, resulting in the formulation of a novel hypothesis. The researcher would then design a method for collecting data, and proceed to gather and analyse it. After forming conclusions, the researcher would then advance to the final stage, which is writing up their findings and communicating them with the rest of the research community, typically in the form of academic papers.
AI has disrupted every link in this chain.
Whereas the observation and reflection stage used to take weeks, months or years – as a researcher reads and absorbs decades of scientific findings – today, with the assistance of ChatGPT and comparable tools, this step can be compressed to a handful of hours. AI instruments can easily formulate novel hypotheses and propose a suitable research design. Some – but not all – of the data gathering can also be done rapidly by a computer, such as an AI-powered bot scraping data from the internet or seamlessly cataloguing hours of video. Synthesising the data and presenting it in the form of a scholarly paper can also be performed in a few minutes by well-programmed software, before the cycle resumes.
As AI tools continue to improve, the rough edges around this process will be further smoothened, making scientific discoveries executable in minutes. As these advancements inevitably arrive, will PhD-holding scholars eventually go the way of the film projectionists and lift operators, being made obsolete by the wheels of technological progress?
This may well be the case, but in the meantime, traditional researchers will maintain relevance by adapting to AI and focusing on filling the gaps in its armoury. As mentioned above, one of the areas in which AI struggles most is gathering data, especially if doing so requires communicating with humans, showing empathy and gaining trust.
Anyone who has engaged in a discussion with ChatGPT knows that it can be an excellent conversationalist, but only conditional on the fact that we humans are the ones initiating the dialogue and deciding on the topic. Few people would be amenable to the idea of a chatbot asking them questions that it formulated as part of its own data-gathering efforts in some obscure scientific subfield. Most also feel very uncomfortable with the idea of AI-powered cameras and microphones observing their daily routines, whatever the context.
For disciplines like economics, this moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity: risk obsolescence or embrace it and evolve
In other words, for the time being, AI is a poor ethnographer, especially when compared to a well-trained human.
At the same time, ethnography makes only a small contribution to most scientific disciplines, with the exception of anthropology and sociology. Ironically, one of the reasons is the post-Second World War computer revolution, as this made the process of analysing quantitative data quicker and cheaper than at any time in history, spawning generations of researchers with an affinity for applying statistical methods. A further reason is that some disciplines – most notably economics – tend to look down on ethnography as lacking in rigour and relying too much on a researcher’s subjective impressions.
Whether the prevailing aversion to ethnography is down to an obsession with numbers or methodological sneering, AI is likely to force a change. Researchers are like all other professionals – they worry about losing their jobs to AI. They are willing to adapt both by learning to use AI as a productivity-enhancer, and by gravitating towards the activities that AI has yet to master, such as ethnography.
Given the deep-seated nature of the ignorance of, and antipathy towards, ethnography within a number of disciplines, graduate training programmes will probably require significant reforms to get the new generation of scholars up-to-date on the method. This is especially true given that ethnography itself can be enhanced by AI, as in the case of a computer program assisting an anthropologist in the analysis of interview data gathered in the field.
In sum, rather than rendering researchers obsolete, the rise of AI may re-orient the research ecosystem in ways that elevate the value of human presence and intuition. Ethnography – long sidelined by disciplines enamoured with quantification – is poised for a renaissance, not despite AI, but because of it.
As machines increasingly dominate the realms of abstraction, synthesis and computation, the irreplaceable human capacity for empathy, contextual sensitivity and interpersonal trust will come to the fore. For disciplines like economics, this moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity: resist the shift and risk obsolescence, or embrace it and evolve.
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Saturday's results
Women's third round
- 14-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-2, 6-2
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4. 6-0
- Coco Vandeweghe (USA) beat Alison Riske (USA) 6-2, 6-4
- 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 19-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 7-6, 6-1
- Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-1
- 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-0
Men's third round
- 13-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1, 6-1 -- retired
- Sam Queery (United States) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
- 6-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat 25-Albert Ramos (Spain) 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
- 10-Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Sebastian Ofner (Austria) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
- 11-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
- Adrian Mannarino (France) beat 15-Gael Monfils (France) 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
How to help or find other cats to adopt
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Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
Company%20Profile
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
HEADLINE HERE
- I would recommend writing out the text in the body
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- It can be as long as you link
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- Be wary of other embeds lengthy fact boxes could crash into
- That's about it
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
The Bio
Favourite Emirati dish: I have so many because it has a lot of herbs and vegetables. Harees (oats with chicken) is one of them
Favourite place to go to: Dubai Mall because it has lots of sports shops.
Her motivation: My performance because I know that whatever I do, if I put the effort in, I’ll get results
During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
Pet peeve: That with every meal they give you a fries and Pepsi. That is so unhealthy
Advice to anyone who wants to be an ironman: Go for the goal. If you are consistent, you will get there. With the first one, it might not be what they want but they should start and just do it
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Valencia v Atletico Madrid (midnight)
Mallorca v Alaves (4pm)
Barcelona v Getafe (7pm)
Villarreal v Levante (9.30pm)
Sunday
Granada v Real Volladolid (midnight)
Sevilla v Espanyol (3pm)
Leganes v Real Betis (5pm)
Eibar v Real Sociedad (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Osasuna (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Madrid v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
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Fixtures
Opening day Premier League fixtures for August 9-11
August 9
Liverpool v Norwich 11pm
August 10
West Ham v Man City 3.30pm
Bournemouth v Sheffield Utd 6pm
Burnley v Southampton 6pm
C Palace v Everton 6pm
Leicester v Wolves 6pm
Watford v Brighton 6pm
Tottenham v Aston Villa 8.30pm
August 11
Newcastle v Arsenal 5pm
Man United v Chelsea 7.30pm
