Andrew White describes the future workflow and responsibilities of scientific researchers alongside AI agents.
Opinion
White: Molecular dynamics and DFT are overrated in materials science
“So, I think molecular dynamics is overrated. And DFT is overrated. In fact, DFT may be even more overrated than like the dynamics.”
Opinion
White: AI for Science Is Difficult in Academia and Demands Bigger Bets
“AI over science is just, I think, A, difficult to do in academia, and B, so exciting, but I think you can take bigger bets, and I think having a tenured position and writing research grants is maybe not the biggest bet you can take on, on a field.”
Opinion
White: Existing LLMs Are Already Capable of Automating Much of Science
“We can actually automate so much of the scientific method, because it turns out, especially in a field like biology, which is very empirical limited, you know, the top one percent guesser of, you know, what they think will happen in experiment that, you know, …”
Insight
White: AI Science Agents Do Not Require Bespoke Automated Labs
“We don't actually have to hold their hands so much anymore, or like they don't actually need to necessarily have an automated lab. They can like write an email to a CRO or something, or they can like tell you what experiment to do. And you can take a video of …”
Insight
White: Simulating biological systems hits fundamental limits; empirical lab measurement is unavoidable
“Basically the best model whatever, Opus seven or GPT 10, like it really can only propose the first experiment, maybe slightly more clever, but at a certain point you just need information, right? Like some little calculations you can do that, like, there's mor…”
Opinion
Logistics Data Matters More Than Frontier LLM Intelligence in Lab Science
“I think whether GPT, 5.2 codex max or Opus 4.5 is going to do better. It's probably doesn't matter. It's just a matter of like, which one's going to have all the information about what's in the lab and how much will it cost? How long will it take?”