GenAI-Powered Statistical Inference (with Unstructured Data)

This paper introduces GenAI-Powered Inference (GPI), a novel statistical framework for both causal and predictive analysis of unstructured data, such as images and text. GPI utilizes open-source Generative AI models to extract low-dimensional representations from high-dimensional unstructured data, which are then used in conjunction with machine learning techniques to quantify causal and predictive effects while also providing estimation uncertainty. This approach distinguishes itself by not requiring fine-tuning of generative models, thereby offering computational efficiency and broad accessibility. The paper demonstrates GPI's versatility through applications including analyzing social media censorship, predicting electoral outcomes based on facial appearance, and assessing the persuasiveness of political rhetoric, consistently showing enhanced robustness and precision compared to existing methods.