From Tool to Collaborator: How GenAI Is Transforming Academic Writing

Written by Autodesk Team

Why embracing AI-assisted writing can strengthen research clarity, accessibility, and ethical knowledge creation

Earlier this year, the Autodesk team attended the European Conference on Education Research (ECER), the annual meeting of the European Educational Research Association (EERA). The team participated as a representative of a doctoral program in Educational Sustainability and as part of ongoing work at Autodesk Research, where the focus is on building connections between higher education, industry, and research teams. The goal was twofold: to represent the academic program and to learn from European colleagues especially about the growing role of AI in research and education.

One panel session explored how AI is being used in university-level writing, from undergraduate coursework to dissertations and post-doctoral research. During the discussion, an audience member asked a deceptively simple question: “What is writing?” That question quickly shifted the conversation. It challenged the idea that writing is a fixed, purely human skill and reminded everyone that writing has always depended on tools from pen and paper to word processors.

This question reveals a tension academia is still grappling with. Academic writing is often treated as a standalone human activity, yet it has always been shaped by collaboration with technology. Generative AI simply makes that relationship more visible.

So what is academic writing really for? At its core, it exists to communicate research: to share ideas, methods, and findings clearly and responsibly. To explore this idea further, the Autodesk team posed the question “What is academic writing?” to both Claude AI and ChatGPT.

Both tools gave similar answers. They described academic writing as evidence-based, structured, and objective, using formal language and citations to contribute to an academic field. What stood out was what they didn’t emphasize—the act of writing itself. Instead, they focused on the purpose and impact of academic communication.

If we shift our focus to impact rather than process, the skills required for academic writing can evolve. Generative AI can be treated as a support tool, much like word processors or coding assistants. This allows researchers to spend more time thinking about how to clearly communicate their work. Given the structured nature of academic writing, with its standard formats and citation systems, it may be especially well suited to responsible AI assistance.

From the Autodesk team’s own experience, AI has become a helpful partner in the writing process. For those with math or science backgrounds, writing is often the hardest part of research. Generative AI helps by supporting idea development, improving flow, and providing momentum when thinking stalls. It is used as a conversational tool—not as a replacement for original thinking or authorship.

The real opportunity isn’t to police AI use in academic writing, but to design transparent and ethical systems around it. Peer review should evolve to focus on reasoning, responsibility, and contribution not simply on whether AI was used. AI also has the potential to make academic writing clearer and more accessible, reducing unnecessary jargon that often limits who can engage with research.

AI is already part of academic work, and it isn’t going away. Like past technological shifts, this moment calls for intentional change. The question isn’t whether AI can write a dissertation it’s whether academia can adapt quickly enough to be honest about how writing has always worked: with tools. Writing has evolved through technology before, and now it’s time to evolve again.

These reflections are based on the Autodesk team’s experience as researchers and practitioners and are intended to contribute to the broader conversation around AI and academic writing. They do not represent official positions of Autodesk.