Generative AI has lowered the barriers to computational social sciences

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the field of computational social science (CSS), unleashing new possibilities for collecting and analyzing multimodal data, especially for scholars who may not have extensive programming expertise. This breakthrough carries profound implications for social scientists. First, generative AI can significantly enhance the productivity of social scientists by automating the generation, annotation, and debugging of code. Second, it empowers researchers to delve into sophisticated data analysis through the innovative use of prompt engineering. Last, the educational sphere of CSS stands to benefit immensely from these tools, given their exceptional ability to annotate and elucidate complex codes for learners, thereby simplifying the learning process and making the technology more accessible.