Andreev and Vesely, in dialogue with ChatGPT, propose a refined definition of "corrosion inhibitor" that covers the protection after-effect of pretreatment and separates inhibition from conversion treatment and bulk-phase coatings

The paper proposes a refined definition of "corrosion inhibitor": a substance whose action on a metal or corrosion system retards corrosion without significantly changing the concentration of corrosive components in the bulk environment, does not involve formation of a conversion coating on the metal, and is not associated with application of a bulk-phase anticorrosion coating to the surface. Compared with the ISO 8044:2024 formulation conditioned on being "present in the corrosion system", the new definition centers on "action", thereby accommodating the protection after-effect in which the inhibitor itself is no longer present after pretreatment while the adsorbed film retains its anticorrosion action. The argument rests on a clause-by-clause comparison of normative texts (GOST 9.106–2021, NACE/ASTM G193-22, ISO 8044:2024) and cites the authors' prior work on octadecylamine, 1,2,3-benzotriazole and their mixture as chamber inhibitors of steel corrosion to support the after-effect case; it is a conceptual and terminological argument without new experimental data.

The paper notes that the ISO definition does not explicitly distinguish changes in the concentration of corrosive components in the bulk environment from those in the near-surface region, and argues that the definition should specify the bulk environment. Restricting "environment" to "bulk environment" removes the tension between the definition and adsorption or sparingly soluble compound formation occurring in the near-surface region, making it compatible with the mechanism whereby inhibitors change the state of the metal through adsorption or formation of sparingly soluble compounds with metal ions. Based on analysis of the wording of ISO 8044:2024 and on the treatment of inhibitor mechanisms in the Chemical Encyclopedia; this is a textual analysis without quantitative experimental verification.

The paper offers three related working definitions: a chemisorbed layer as no more than one monolayer of adsorbed species formed through chemical bond formation between the adsorbed species and adsorption sites on the existing surface; a conversion coating as a layer formed by chemical or electrochemical transformation of the surface material, containing products of this transformation, and whose formation is not limited to monolayer occupation of adsorption sites on the original surface; and a bulk-phase anticorrosion coating as a layer of protective material formed on a metal surface by applying a substance or composition, constituting a distinct condensed phase but not being a conversion coating. The criterion of whether formation is limited to monolayer occupation of adsorption sites separates chemisorbing inhibitors from conversion treatment, addressing the problem that the earlier conversion-coating definition would also have included chemisorbed layers. The definitions combine NACE/ASTM G193-22, ISO 2080:2022 and the IUPAC Gold Book entries on chemisorption and monolayer capacity; this is terminological harmonization rather than experimental measurement.

The paper uses a "question (prompt) – answer" dialogue between the authors and ChatGPT (OpenAI; GPT-5.6 Sol) as its organizing and argumentative form, and states that the submitted manuscript was discussed with ChatGPT once again and that most of the neural network's comments were taken into account. It presents AI dialogue as a way of working through terminological distinctions and refining definitions, rather than merely as a writing aid. The text states that the conversation was edited and substantially shortened without changing its meaning, with intermediate definitions in bold and final formulations in bold and red; the format itself does not constitute independent validation of the definitions.

The work addresses readers engaged in corrosion inhibitor research, standards development and classification of metal protection schemes, and applies where inhibition, conversion treatment and bulk-phase coatings must be distinguished, especially in the protection after-effect case where the inhibitor itself is no longer present after pretreatment while the adsorbed film still acts. The proposed definition and the three working definitions can be used directly in terminological harmonization, textbook writing and standards revision discussions, and as a reference for how experimental papers describe protection mechanisms.

The proposed definition is currently a formulation developed in the authors' dialogue with ChatGPT; the text reports no adoption by standards bodies or peers and no experimental verification. How the "no more than one monolayer" criterion for a chemisorbed layer would be measured and judged in practical corrosion systems is not developed. In addition, this is a condensed version of the dialogue, which the authors state was edited and substantially shortened, so some intermediate reasoning is not fully presented; readers tracing each step would need to consult the cited normative documents and literature.