Is AI endangering scientific culture?
Recent changes at Genentech have brought a wider debate into sharp focus. As the company makes AI increasingly central to its research strategy, several internationally renowned scientists have been let go as part of a broader restructuring and shift in priorities.
In a new Comment in Nature Cell Biology, PROXIDRUGS Speaker Ivan Đikić from Goethe University Frankfurt and Henning Walczak from UCL Cancer Institute and University of Cologne ask what such changes could mean for the future of scientific discovery.
They are not arguing against AI. On the contrary, they see enormous potential in using it to analyse complex data, generate hypotheses and accelerate research. Their concern is what may be lost if investment in AI comes at the expense of experienced scientists, experimental research and the scientific culture in which unexpected discoveries emerge.
Many major breakthroughs were not predicted. They arose because scientists followed surprising observations, challenged established ideas and drew on years of experimental experience and intuition.
The authors therefore argue for a different model: AI should strengthen scientific culture, not replace it. The future of discovery will depend on combining artificial intelligence with human creativity, judgement and experimental insight.
