AI Research: Don't Confuse Engineering with Science
paraschopra · x · 2026-07-13
The author points out a common failure mode among early AI researchers: mistaking "engineering optimization" for "scientific breakthroughs."
They argue that merely throwing more compute, data, or tricks at a benchmark or task doesn't equate to understanding underlying principles. If no reusable principles are extracted from the results, it mostly remains engineering work.
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