The Center for Management IT at the McIntire School of Commerce has launched the State of AI Report for the Commonwealth, which draws on nearly 200 sources. The focus is on Virginia and the impact and opportunities of AI within the commonwealth.
Video 5: AI in Research & Discovery
Big Question: Can Virginia’s research institutions turn AI from a productivity tool into an engine for scientific breakthroughs?
Ken Ono, Founding Mathematician for Axiom Math
“We will see the first scientific papers written end to end with AI”. - Prof. Ono
Peter Youngs, Chair, Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education
“Increasing instances of researchers using AI to support scholarship, without proper citation”. - Prof. Youngs
Mona Sloane, Assistant Professor of Data Science and Media Studies
“We will see a renewed interest in the Social Sciences and Humanities”. - Prof. Sloane
🔑 Key Insights from AI in Research & Discovery
🔬 AI is becoming part of the research process itself.
AI is no longer just helping with search or drafting — it can now generate ideas, write code, run experiments, and draft manuscripts, marking a shift from assistant to active research collaborator.🧪 The strongest adoption is showing up in applied R&D.
In life sciences, 75% of firms use AI, and 79% deploy it specifically for R&D to help shorten research timelines and accelerate discovery.🏥 At UVA, the center of gravity is shifting toward domain experts.
45% of first authors on AI papers at UVA now come from clinical departments, showing that the momentum is moving from building models in engineering to applying AI inside medicine, care, and other real-world domains.
Conclusion:
Synergy - AI works best when it expands research capacity while leaving final verification to humans.
Reasoning - As AI moves from reasoners to agents, expert scrutiny remains essential.
Governance - The future of research depends on AI collaboration grounded in human oversight.
Future Videos
Topic 5: AI in Research and Discovery (Above)
Topic 6: the Promise of AI and AI agents (Releasing April 14)
See the full report here.
State of AI in the Commonwealth 2026
Ryan Wright is a professor at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and Co-Director of AI Research at UVA.