Mollick: Astra's non-p-hacked papers are amazing, but research taste is the hard part
emollick · x · 2026-09-04
Ethan Mollick expands on his Astra experiment: on one hand, getting accurate, non-p-hacked original research papers in under a couple of hours each is remarkable; on the other, the results weren't slop — they just weren't interesting.
His conclusion: even with prompts, solving for research taste remains a hard problem for AIs.
Related event: Ethan Mollick Tests Astra: Solid Papers, Boring Topics(2 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- Ex-OpenAI safety lead Miles Brundage: if your primary emotion on AI isn't concern, you're misreading it — Miles_Brundage · 2026-09-04
- Gary Marcus on GPT-6 Astra: symbolic world models are vindication, but no proof of AGI — GaryMarcus · 2026-09-04
- AI Job Market Talk: GenAI Engineers With 3-5 Years Experience Command ₹2-3 Lakh Monthly Pay — ashishllm · 2026-09-04
- Alignment researcher: defining the AI's value system isn't the real problem — Sauers_ · 2026-09-04
- Researcher: LLMs' hidden cost of wasting your time on useless work is underrated — lateinteraction · 2026-09-04
- Andrew Chen: agents as your C-suite works at work — what's the personal-life equivalent? — andrewchen · 2026-09-04