Should Researchers Write Papers for AI Instead of People?
This May, 37 researchers from roughly two dozen top universities and tech companies published a paper on ArXiv, arguing that scientists should stop writing papers. Because artificial intelligence needs a different format, and AI's needs, they say, should be the priority. "AI agents are becoming first-class participants in research workflows, not tools that assist humans but autonomous contributors that read, reproduce, and extend scientific work.
Key Takeaways
- That transition demands infrastructure built around agents from the start," the authors write in the provocative article, titled "The Last Human-Written Paper .
" The paper proposes a replacement, called an "Agent-Native Research Artifact" (ARA), that presents work in a format AI agents can use efficiently.
- She spoke with IEEE Spectrum about the paper and the future of AI in scientific research.
Building infrastructure for an AI collaborator How did you come to believe AI has become a collaborator for scientists rather than a mere tool?
- That's the point where humans cannot provide more value.
- Everyone there sees that sharing research results has been a pain point for hundreds of years, because any scientific breakthrough is a joint effort.
- Some nonprofit organizations are doing similar things, and there we could help each other.
Stats & Key Facts
- #This May, 37 researchers from roughly two dozen top universities and tech companies published a paper on ArXiv, arguing that scientists should stop writing papers.
- #That transition demands infrastructure built around agents from the start," the authors write in the provocative article, titled "The Last Human This May, 37 researchers from roughly two dozen top universities and tech companies published a paper on ArXiv, arguing that scientists should stop writing papers.
- #Already in 2026 there's an almost complete undergrad level of knowledge inside the large language models.
That transition demands infrastructure built around agents from the start," the authors write in the provocative article, titled "The Last Human-Written Paper . " The paper proposes a replacement, called an "Agent-Native Research Artifact" (ARA), that presents work in a format AI agents can use efficiently. (As an example, the paper itself is online in ARA form.
) Jiachen Liu cofounded the Agent Native Research Lab in May. Jiachen Liu The growth of AI tools in the research process is not without its critics, and scientists' opinions about that shift are split. Some evidence shows AI-enabled research could boost individuals' careers in a discipline but generate fewer new ideas and topics .
Still, some biologists have come to see promise in AI as a "co-scientist. " Lead author Jiachen Liu conducted work on the ARA proposal while pursuing her Ph. in computer science from the University of Michigan, which she was awarded in 2025.
For more details please read the original article at IEEE Spectrum AI.
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