# Machine Learning Reconfigures Science From Inference to Prediction

> Source: <https://letsdatascience.com/news/machine-learning-reconfigures-science-from-inference-to-pred-b9a3d7e0>
> Published: 2026-07-09 04:00:00+00:00

For AI and data-science practitioners, the paper highlights shifting trade-offs between predictive performance, interpretability, and reproducibility that affect model selection, evaluation, and research design. According to the arXiv preprint by Malena Méndez Isla et al., the authors analyze **4.9 million publications** and **255 ML techniques** to map how machine learning reshaped scientific practice across disciplines. The paper reports a core-periphery semantic structure with the **physical sciences** at the methodological core and **health sciences** as the largest adopters. It finds predictive techniques concentrated in computer science while inferential approaches remain distributed across applied fields, and documents two waves of displacement: **2015-2021** driven by deep learning and **post-2022** driven by reliance on external commercial models, per the arXiv preprint.