Generative AI Is Changing How Scientific Ideas Begin

For most of modern science, the first stages of a research idea were largely invisible. A researcher noticed an anomaly, connected two concepts, questioned an established assumption, or identified a gap in the literature. That idea was privately refined before being tested through conversations with supervisors, colleagues, reviewers, and funding bodies. Generative AI is inserting itself into that sequence. Researchers can now present an incomplete thought to a large language model before…