I feel like there are a few ways in which science could be advanced by AI models.
1. We have the sense that "science progresses one funeral at a time." An AI model could be used to recognize situations where a single viewpoint is getting a disproportionate amount of attention in the literature, and warn journals+funding agencies about any disconnects between attention and quality of work.
2. We have the sense that "It Ain’t What You Don’t Know That Gets You Into Trouble. It’s What You Know for Sure That Just Ain’t So" An AI model could identify the most high-profile results in the literature that have contradicting evidence and call for further, decisive study.
3. Interdisciplinary translation. There are many many cases of different branches of science re-discovering each other's work. I believe I read an article a little bit ago about an academic in a somewhat softer science publishing a paper proudly claiming the discovery of linear regression. Obviously not all cases are so egregious, but an AI could advance a discipline just by pointing out areas where that discipline is using outdated/inferior methods compared to the state of the art.
1. We have the sense that "science progresses one funeral at a time." An AI model could be used to recognize situations where a single viewpoint is getting a disproportionate amount of attention in the literature, and warn journals+funding agencies about any disconnects between attention and quality of work.
2. We have the sense that "It Ain’t What You Don’t Know That Gets You Into Trouble. It’s What You Know for Sure That Just Ain’t So" An AI model could identify the most high-profile results in the literature that have contradicting evidence and call for further, decisive study.
3. Interdisciplinary translation. There are many many cases of different branches of science re-discovering each other's work. I believe I read an article a little bit ago about an academic in a somewhat softer science publishing a paper proudly claiming the discovery of linear regression. Obviously not all cases are so egregious, but an AI could advance a discipline just by pointing out areas where that discipline is using outdated/inferior methods compared to the state of the art.