It is not inherently bad to publish research on the impact of AI that only refers to older models, but it requires a very careful discussion and has to be very clear to non-technical readers. If you show AI can do something, its fine. Generally, once AI has gained an ability, it does not regress in future generations. So papers that show that AI has crossed a threshold (such as "good as a human") or that seek to establish some sort of minimum impact or effect still hold up even if they used…