The Rise of" Vibe Science": How AI Threatens Scientific Rigor

Hyunjung Gloria Kwak

Abstract: In 1665, Newton's plague-driven isolation yielded calculus, universal gravitation, and revolutionary optics. Today's scientific enterprise produces more papers monthly than Newton's entire century, yet this quantity explosion hasn't delivered proportionate understanding-it's undermining rigorous inquiry. Large language models accelerate this crisis by synthesizing literature and drafting manuscripts with fluency, but their optimization for plausibility over precision creates Vibe Science-research appearing rigorous while lacking epistemic substance. This mirrors "Vibe Coding," where AI generates syntactically correct but functionally flawed code, except scientific stakes are immeasurably higher. Originally confined to biomedical research, this problem now spreads across disciplines. The shift from insight-driven to interpolation-driven research represents an existential threat to scientific progress, potentially decoupling scientific communication from understanding. The consequences ripple throughout knowledge creation, transforming how we generate and validate scientific truth in ways that may fundamentally compromise the integrity of human understanding.