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Agentic research is oxymoronic

Cover image by Leo Lau & Digit, betterimagesofai.org A synthesis of my thoughts on LLMs has been published in Nature Astronomy! Read the article here: https://rdcu.be/7fTzc1jZX8sa Or on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.31161 I accept speaking engagements on this topic; please feel free to reach out to me: mail@nataliebhogg.com
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But is it fun?

Reflections on “Agentic AI and Research: opportunities and risk”, a SISSA workshop Cover image by Marcin Wilkowski — https://betterimagesofai.org On Friday 15th May 2026, I attended the workshop Agentic AI and Research: opportunities and risk, organised by the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) in Trieste. I had been kindly invited by Roberto Trotta…
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Find the stable and pull out the bolt

On the use of ChatGPT in academia: a measured response Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote what might charitably be called a think-piece on the use of ChatGPT in academia, or more specifically, my observations on the use of ChatGPT by a handful of my colleagues in the small niche of French cosmology which…
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On the use of ChatGPT in academia

Creation is a sacred act. From the profundity of making a new life to the mundanity of whistling a tune through one’s teeth whilst doing the washing up, human life is filled from end to end with acts of creation. So smitten with creativity are we that we would love to see our own creations…
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For once, then, something

For the past year, I have been stuck in a research slump. One year ago, I started applying for jobs; and with fellowship applications in the mix too, the whole period from October to December disappeared into the mire of proposals, cover letters and research statements. When I emerged after Christmas, it was into the…
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A moveable feast

I have lived in Paris for eighteen months. Or, rather, I have lived in Paris proper for six months. For the year before that, I lived in Orsay, a small town in a far southern extremity of the city. Close enough to be in Zone 5 on the RER, but distant enough that it was…
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Two weeks in the USA with the Ilford Sprite 35

In August I spent two weeks in the USA; one week in Chicago, attending a conference at KICP, and the second week on holiday, taking the sleeper train from Chicago to Seattle and spending five days on the west coast. It was a big and exciting trip, and I was determined to capture it as…
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Cosmology’s first century

A guided tour of the Universe from Einstein to JWST It was a great pleasure to be invited to the Charlbury Beer Festival in June 2023 to give a talk in the culture tent. The topic I chose to discuss was gravity, and more specifically how our best theory of gravity, Einstein’s theory of general…
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Cosmic variance

Or, everyone in the world is French M. Luc Arnaud farmed a small plot somewhere in the south of France. Exactly when and exactly where M. Arnaud’s farm was is now no longer remembered, but we can be sure that he had a few cows, a few pigs, a few chickens and one rather moth-eaten…
