It’s a weird time for university AI researchers, who make up most of the AI2050 group. In the past four years, AI research has reoriented around large language models, and its cutting edge has moved from academic institutions to private companies. Many of them are scientists who build specialized AI models that can analyze data, make useful predictions, or even simulate entire physical systems. AI scientists won’t replace humans, Dettmers says. The very resource constraints that prevent them from training frontier models also push them to discover new ways to make models smaller and more efficient, or to explore completely new architectures.