The AI-Driven Leap: Mass-Produced Science and the Scientist's New Role

AI could mass-produce high-quality science—new analyses, data, figures, and conclusions—at low cost, benefiting the public and patients, but it will also create challenges in separating quality work from low-quality output. Reliability will hinge on new practices like open data, preregistration, and robust validation. Humans will still guide which questions to pursue, refine concepts, design and interpret experiments, and curate trustworthy results. The shift may resemble the Industrial Revolution: some jobs vanish while new roles emerge, with AI-enabled data integration and personalized review accelerating discoveries while reshaping careers in science.