James Zou used virtual AI ‘scientists’ to find novel covid-19 treatments. Now, he’s having AI review and present all of the research at a controversial new conference.
In October, a new academic conference will debut that’s unlike any other. Agents4Science is a one-day online event that will encompass all areas of science, from physics to medicine. All of the work shared will have been researched, written, and reviewed primarily by AI, and will be presented using text-to-speech technology.
The conference is the brainchild of Stanford computer scientist James Zou, who studies how humans and AI can best work together. Artificial intelligence has already provided many useful tools for scientists, like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which helps simulate proteins that are difficult to make physically. More recently, though, progress in large language models and reasoning-enabled AI has advanced the idea that AI can work more or less as autonomously as scientists themselves—proposing hypotheses, running simulations, and designing experiments on their own.
That idea is not without its detractors. Among other issues, many feel AI is not capable of the creative thought needed in research, makes too many mistakes and hallucinations, and may limit opportunities for young researchers.
