Thoughts About the Roles of AI for Statistics

2026

AI

computing

This talk covers what I’ve learned from using large language models in my work for the past two years. For statistical programming, success has come when I play the role of specification writer and comprehensive tester. For statistical methodology, AI has been successful serving me as a mathematical statistical assistant and a critic. Instead of avoiding AI we should embrace it, but we should always set a higher bar for the quality of our work as a result.

Author

Published

May 19, 2026

Events
- Regression Modeling Strategies Course 2026 2026-05-19
Slides

---
author:
  - name: Frank Harrell
    url: https://hbiostat.org
date: 2026-05-19
title: "Thoughts About the Roles of AI for Statistics"
description: "This talk covers what I've learned from using large language models in my work for the past two years.  For statistical programming, success has come when I play the role of specification writer and comprehensive tester.  For statistical methodology, AI has been successful serving me as a mathematical statistical assistant and a critic.  Instead of avoiding AI we should embrace it, but we should always set a higher bar for the quality of our work as a result."
categories: [2026, AI, computing]
---

* Events
  - [Regression Modeling Strategies Course 2026](https://hbiostat.org/course) 2026-05-19
* [Slides](https://hbiostat.org/talks/ai.html)