Current AI systems still can't really yet go beyond asking novel questions or conjectures, or come up with new hypotheses not thought of before.

Judged as of August 2025. True if, as of then, there was no well-documented case of an AI system on its own posing a new scientific question, conjecture or hypothesis that experts recognised as truly original, and expert consensus held that AI could not yet do this. Mostly true if there were only isolated or disputed claims of such originality (for example AI co-scientist systems producing hypotheses that experts mostly saw as recombinations), with consensus broadly agreeing with the claim. Mixed if there were several credible, documented cases of AI producing truly original hypotheses or conjectures that experts accepted, but this was not general. Mostly false if such capabilities were well established in several domains by August 2025. False if AI producing new hypotheses and conjectures was routine and widely accepted by then.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Scientific hypothesis generation by large language models: laboratory validation in breast cancer treatment The Royal Society (Journal of the Royal Society Interface); record hosted by Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) · 4 June 2025

   “In the first round of laboratory experiments, GPT4 succeeded in discovering three drug combinations (out of 12 tested) with synergy scores above the positive controls.”

2. E2 Scientific hypothesis generation by large language models: laboratory validation in breast cancer treatment The Royal Society (Journal of the Royal Society Interface); record hosted by Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) · 4 June 2025

   “We conclude that LLMs are a valuable source of scientific hypotheses.”

3. E3 FunSearch: Making new discoveries in mathematical sciences using Large Language Models Google DeepMind · 14 December 2023 Own record

   “This work represents the first time a new discovery has been made for challenging open problems in science or mathematics using LLMs.”

4. E4 Google DeepMind CEO predicts AGI in 5-10 years but says AI still lacks imagination The Indian Express · 22 April 2025

   “They still can’t really yet go beyond asking a new novel question or a new novel conjecture or coming up with a new hypothesis that has not been thought of before,” Hassabis said in an interview that aired as part of CBS News’ 60 Minutes programme on Sunday, April 22.”

A peer-reviewed June 2025 study reports that GPT-4 proposed breast-cancer drug combinations, three of which beat the positive controls in lab tests. Its authors conclude that LLMs are "a valuable source of scientific hypotheses" (E1, E2). Those hypotheses are combinations of existing drugs. The evidence doesn't show experts accepting them as truly original conjectures. DeepMind's FunSearch claim of a new mathematical discovery (E3) comes from Hassabis's own organisation, so it counts only as an isolated, self-reported example. Before August 2025 there were some isolated, documented cases of AI generating hypotheses, but nothing showing the ability was established or widely accepted, which fits "mostly true" under the criteria.