Are Researchers Being Replaced by Artificial Intelligence?
Computers and Society
2026-05-19 v1 Artificial Intelligence
Abstract
A Nature survey from 2023 involving 1,600 researchers shows that scientists are ``concerned, as well as excited, by the increasing use of artificial-intelligence tools in research.'' This tension frames our central question: Are researchers being replaced by artificial intelligence? We argue that replacement is already underway-not as disappearance, but as a shift from researcher-as-creator to researcher-as-curator. As AI agents increasingly generate hypotheses, papers, and reviews, humans risk retaining responsibility while losing intellectual ownership. This article examines how AI is reshaping the scientific lifecycle and exposes the deeper danger: not that AI will fail to do science, but that humans may stop truly understanding it.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.16294,
title = {Are Researchers Being Replaced by Artificial Intelligence?},
author = {Angelo A. Salatino and Ansgar Scherp and Christin Katharina Kreutz and Sahar Vahdati},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.16294},
year = {2026}
}