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Risks of AI Scientists: Prioritizing Safeguarding Over Autonomy

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arxiv 2402.04247 v5 pith:E7AEFXFZ submitted 2024-02-06 cs.CY cs.AIcs.CLcs.LG

classification cs.CYcs.AIcs.CLcs.LG
keywords scientistsrisksvulnerabilitiespotentialagentassociatedcomprehensivelimited
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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AI scientists powered by large language models have demonstrated substantial promise in autonomously conducting experiments and facilitating scientific discoveries across various disciplines. While their capabilities are promising, these agents also introduce novel vulnerabilities that require careful consideration for safety. However, there has been limited comprehensive exploration of these vulnerabilities. This perspective examines vulnerabilities in AI scientists, shedding light on potential risks associated with their misuse, and emphasizing the need for safety measures. We begin by providing an overview of the potential risks inherent to AI scientists, taking into account user intent, the specific scientific domain, and their potential impact on the external environment. Then, we explore the underlying causes of these vulnerabilities and provide a scoping review of the limited existing works. Based on our analysis, we propose a triadic framework involving human regulation, agent alignment, and an understanding of environmental feedback (agent regulation) to mitigate these identified risks. Furthermore, we highlight the limitations and challenges associated with safeguarding AI scientists and advocate for the development of improved models, robust benchmarks, and comprehensive regulations.

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Cited by 5 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Towards Trustworthy AI: Characterizing User-Reported Risks across LLMs "In the Wild"

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  4. Deploying AI for Signal Processing education: Selected challenges and intriguing opportunities

    eess.SP 2025-09 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    AI can be used to generate interactive signal processing courseware, but the paper offers no evidence that students learn better from it.

  5. From Text to Discovery: How Large Language Models Are Reshaping Research Across Scientific and Humanistic Disciplines

    cs.DL 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 3.0 of 10

    LLMs accelerate research workflows from idea generation to writing but introduce challenges like hallucination, bias, opacity, and ten systemic risks requiring new governance frameworks.

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