The Waymo effect: how AI is quietly making research less collaborative
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Frictionless AI tools quietly reduce human collaboration in research.
The author defines the 'Waymo effect': technology that removes human friction is experienced as pure gain, while the benefits of that friction (unchosen conversations, serendipity) are invisible. He argues LLMs similarly replace collaborators, offering speed and no ego but removing the productive challenge and social fabric of research. Writing is thinking; outsourcing it skips the thinking. Funders should 'fund the friction'-workshops, visits, unstructured time-and evaluate contribution over velocity, because output is becoming cheap and thinking together is becoming precious.
What commenters are saying
Many commenters debated whether the article itself was AI-written, citing stylistic tics like 'quietly' and em-dashes as LLM tells. Some claimed Pangram detected it as mostly AI. Others argued AI detection tools are unreliable and should not be trusted. A split emerged: those who saw the article as a valid caution about collaboration, and those who dismissed it as ironic AI-generated fluff. One commenter noted the article's own point about outsourcing thinking applies to its own prose.