Daniel Hook, Chief Scientific Officer of the Holtzbrinck Group, has pointed out the risk that AI technology may dilute human collaboration within the research process.

Hook defines the "Waymo effect" as the way autonomous vehicles provide passengers with comfortable transportation while stripping away unexpected conversations and social touchpoints with drivers. He warns that a similar phenomenon is emerging in the field of research, where LLMs may remove the "friction" (dialogue and disagreement) from a researcher's thinking process, potentially leading to "decollaboration" and a loss of research diversity.

In the current research environment, driven by pressures for funding and an emphasis on the speed of results, utilizing inexpensive and efficient LLMs for work is becoming a more rational choice than costly human collaboration. However, such efficiency risks skipping the thinking process itself, which may ultimately compromise the quality and creativity of research.

Hook stated that in an era where research outputs are becoming cheaper, the most valuable asset is "thinking together." He proposes that research institutions and funders should design incentives to maintain collaborative processes—such as dialogue and exchange—that may appear inefficient at first glance.

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