By Sorin M.S. Krammer
Publication Date: 2026-05-07 15:37:00
Until recently, AI’s role in research felt like a useful assistant. It could be summarizing a paper, cleaning a dataset, or drafting a summary. The researchers were still responsible for thinking.
That changed at the end of 2025, when cutting-edge “pioneer” AI models were able to think independently and plan reliably. A key feature of these models is “tool calling” – the ability to interact with external tools to act on the world, not just describe it.
This marks the rise of agentic AI: systems that not only respond to instructions, but can plan, execute and iterate independently. In science, as in other fields, chatbots have become collaborators that can complete real work end-to-end autonomously.
An example of this is The AI Scientist by Sakana AI from Tokyo. Unveiled in mid-2025 and now in its second iteration, the Japanese technology company calls it “the first comprehensive system for fully automated scientific discovery.”
The AI scientist…