“AI科学家”，推动科研范式深刻变革（国际科技前沿）

Core Insights - The emergence of AI scientists represents a significant advancement in scientific research, enabling faster hypothesis generation and experimental design, as demonstrated by the recent validation of a new bacterial gene transmission mechanism by Google's AI in just 48 hours [1][2] Group 1: AI Scientist Development - AI scientists are not physical robots but intelligent agents powered by large language models, capable of generating scientific hypotheses and research plans autonomously [1] - The global competition among research institutions to develop AI scientist systems is intensifying, with two main categories: AI as research assistants and fully autonomous scientific discovery systems [2][3] Group 2: Research Assistant Systems - The first category focuses on creating AI systems that assist human scientists, providing interdisciplinary knowledge and research ideas, exemplified by Stanford University's "Virtual Laboratory" which successfully designed 92 antiviral nanobodies [2] Group 3: Autonomous Discovery Systems - The second category aims to develop fully autonomous systems capable of scientific discovery, with examples including Japan's "Fish AI" which produced a computer science paper and the "Future Home" AI system that discovered a drug for dry macular degeneration [3] Group 4: China's AI Scientist Initiatives - China is accelerating the development of AI scientist systems, with initiatives like the "Virtual Scientist" system and the "Feng Deng Gene Scientist" system, which has identified previously unreported gene functions in staple crops [4] Group 5: Future Prospects - The future may see more physical AI scientists assisting in complex research environments, such as "AI crop geneticists" and "AI soil scientists," transforming previously fictional scenarios into reality [5]