Date & Time:
January 27, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Location:
William Eckhardt Research Center. Room 401, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL,
01/27/2026 04:00 PM 01/27/2026 05:30 PM America/Chicago Chenhao Tan (UChicago): Schmidt AI in Science Speaker Series- Science in the Age of AI William Eckhardt Research Center. Room 401, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL,

Abstract: As AI becomes increasingly capable of following instructions and conducting analyses, I believe that scientists will increasingly play the role of selector and evaluator. In this talk, I will share our recent advances in AI-enabled hypothesis generation and research evaluation. Rather than treating AI hallucinations as obstacles to eliminate, we leverage data and literature to steer AI creativity toward generating effective hypotheses. I will also introduce HypoBench, a dedicated benchmark for evaluating hypothesis generation, which reveals significant room for potential improvement of current AI models. Finally, I will present ongoing work that formalizes the evaluation of research outcomes beyond the paper itself and use AI to conduct robust evaluation of research evaluation, with a case study on mechanistic interpretability.

Speakers

Chenhao Tan

Associate Professor of Computer Science, Data Science

Chenhao Tan is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests include human-centered AI, natural language processing, and computational social science. His work has been covered by many news media outlets, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

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