Closing the Empirical Loop: Autonomous AI Agents Conduct End-to-end Research With Human Participants.

Authors

Gabrielle Wehr, Reuben Rideaux, Amaya J Fox, David R Lightfoot, Jason Tangen, Jason B Mattingley, Shane E Ehrhardt

Published in

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). Pages e76675. Sep 14, 2026. Epub Sep 14, 2026.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence systems are transforming scientific discovery by accelerating specific research tasks, from protein structure prediction to materials design, yet remain confined to narrow domains requiring substantial human oversight. Exponential growth of scientific literature and increasing domain specialization constrain researchers' capacity to synthesize knowledge across disciplines and develop unifying theories, motivating exploration of general-purpose AI systems for science. Here we show that a domain-agnostic, agentic AI Scientist system can independently navigate the scientific workflow -from hypothesis generation through data collection to manuscript preparation. The system autonomously designed and executed three psychological studies on visual working memory, mental rotation, and imagery vividness, executed online data collection with 288 participants, developed analysis pipelines through 8h+ continuous coding sessions, and produced completed manuscripts. The results demonstrate the capability of AI scientific discovery pipelines to conduct research with theoretical reasoning and methodological rigor comparable to experienced researchers, though with limitations in conceptual nuance and theoretical interpretation. This is a step toward embodied AI that can test hypotheses through real-world experiments, accelerating discovery by autonomously exploring regions of scientific space that human cognitive and resource constraints might otherwise leave unexplored. It raises important questions about the nature of scientific understanding and attribution of scientific credit.

PMID:
42734488
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Sep 2026.

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