ChatGPT Science Usage Surges 47% as Scientists Turn to AI for Research Communications

Jan 27, 2026
Axios
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Summary

Scientists increasingly embrace ChatGPT for research communications as weekly usage for advanced science topics surges 47% to 8.4 million messages from 1.3 million users, with researchers primarily leveraging AI for writing assistance rather than analysis across computer science, data science, and artificial intelligence fields.

Key Points

  • OpenAI reports that weekly ChatGPT messages on advanced hard-science topics grew nearly 47% over the past year, with 1.3 million weekly users generating 8.4 million messages on graduate and research-level science topics
  • Scientists and engineers primarily use ChatGPT for writing and communications rather than analysis, with computer science, data science and AI being the most popular research areas among users
  • OpenAI urges policymakers to enhance AI access for scientific research by scaling AI education, opening data access, and modernizing infrastructure to accelerate scientific breakthroughs

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