Newcomers: How AI Professionals in Research Teams Are Changing the Scientific Enterprise

This research focuses on understanding the integration of AI professionals (with a special focus on LLMs) into existing research teams, exploring how new AI approaches impact research processes. The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics showcase the huge role of AI in scientific discovery. As AI approaches are developed for all stages of scientific work in natural and social sciences (e.g. Grossmann et al 2023; Wang et al 2023), the number of AI experts integrated into research groups will increase. How do new actors in research teams change laboratory life?

This study explores the integration of AI professionals into research teams by selecting groups that have recently hired such specialists through platforms like Euraxess and Times Higher Education. Selection criteria include the discipline, type of research (fundamental/applied), funding sources, team composition, type of organization etc. Data collection involves structured interviews with all team members, including the AI professionals, as well as observations of their work where possible. The interviews are organized around two key aspects of knowledge production: (1) doing science – focusing on how AI impacts scientific understanding and discovery within the team; (2) scientific enterprise – exploring how AI is influencing the preparation of scientific texts, science communication, and overall project management.

This research explores how teams manage the evolving diversity of team backgrounds and division of labour, and how different professional backgrounds work together to achieve cohesive research outcomes. It also analyses the challenges of fostering effective collaboration between AI professionals and 'traditional' researchers, and the organisational strategies that either facilitate or hinder this process, providing insights into the future of interprofessional teamwork in research.