Agentic AI now performs complex lab research independently, moving beyond simple screen-based chatbots. These systems can plan experiments, handle pipettes, and document results in physical laboratories. While AI models made many errors in 2022, this new technology now works on its own, potentially making scientific research much cheaper for everyone.
In 2022, many of us would have made fun of the AI models when they made errors in identifying the capitals of popular countries accurately. Most of us took the stature of the rabbit and looked at artificial intelligence tools as a tortoise. But in four years’ time, what happened to the rabbit is now happening to humans.
A laboratory researcher, even in their wildest of their dreams would not have thought of witnessing a physical lab which can decide, plan and work on its own. It is now a reality. Most of us know how generative AI works. Humans hold the guide wire, sitting in front of the computer screen, and the chatbot’s response never comes out of the screen. The response can influence your brain, but cannot physically control your pen, paper or anything outside the computer. In contrast, Agentic AI has the capability to do independent physical activities. In a biology lab, it can command a pipette to take a fluid and transfer a few drops into a beaker, heat a tube with a thermal cycler, read the degree of fluorescence in a reaction, complete a series of experiments, observe and document the results and even interpret it.