AI co-scientists can hypothesize, design experiments and analyze data, but humans still decide what makes sense, Nature reports

irinarish · x · 2026-09-27

Nature's technology feature examines how "AI co-scientists" are reshaping research practice.

Biochemist Anna Pertl prompted a system called Co-Scientist overnight; instead of a single-pass answer, it launches multiple autonomous agents that search and synthesize literature, evaluate competing explanations, and iteratively critique and refine hypotheses against published evidence.
Agents pursue distinct lines of reasoning before converging, which consumes substantial compute and time.
Key takeaway: AI can generate hypotheses, design experiments and analyze data, but humans still need to decide what makes sense — good science still requires humans in the loop.

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