IMC21: "The Next Generation - Embracing the responsible AI revolution" - Your views (infocus #83 September 2026)

Introduction by Kirti Prakash and Ian van der Linde, School of Computing and Information Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.329

AI at the microscope: seeing faster, but seeing true?

AI has entered the microscopy room. It can steer instruments, sharpen acquisition, segment cells and writes code for data analysis before a researcher has finished their coffee (Krull et al 2020; Stringer et al 2021; Hohlbein 2026). The attraction is obvious: less time tracing boundaries, more time asking biological questions, at least until AI begins formulating the questions too, encroaching on the creative core of research. At IMC21, excitement about faster science was accompanied by a sharper concern: when does assistance become invention?

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