From drug design to climate modelling, artificial intelligence can process data at scales far beyond human capacity. Hongliang Xin argues that the future of research lies in harnessing agentic AI through human-guided discovery, When it comes to generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI for short, I am an optimist. Sure, universities need to be cautious. The technology is powerful, fast-moving and, in the wrong hands, potentially risky. AI – especially the emerging class of agentic AI, systems that can assist with complex tasks such as setting goals and making decisions – is not a threat to scholarship if meaningful human oversight and control over important decisions is maintained. In fact, it is an opportunity to extend it far beyond what we humans could achieve alone.
