From AI scientist to AI research fleet

Research automation is here (1, 2, 3). We saw it coming and planned ahead, which puts us ahead of most (4, 5, 6). But that foresight also comes with a set of outdated expectations that are holding us back. In particular, research automation is not just about “aligning the first AI scientist”, it's also about the institution-building problem of coordinating the first AI research fleets.

Research automation is not about developing a plug-and-play “AI scientist”. Transformative technologies are rarely straightforward substitutes for what came before. The industrial revolution was not about creating mechanical craftsmen but about deconstructing craftsmen into assembly lines of specialized, repeatable tasks. Algorithmic trading was not just about creating faster digital traders but about reimagining traders as fleets of bots, quants, engineers, and other specialists. AI-augmented science will not just be about creating AI “scientists.”

Why? New technologies come [...]

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Outline:

(00:04) From AI scientist to AI research fleet

(05:05) Recommendations

(05:28) Individual practices

(06:22) Organizational changes

(07:27) Community-level actions

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

The original text contained 1 image which was described by AI.

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First published:
January 12th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WJ7y8S9WdKRvrzJmR/building-ai-research-fleets

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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