Google launches AI-powered tools to optimize scientific research workflows

As society watches helplessly as tech giants infuse AI into everything, Google has at least introduced new AI-based tools that could ease the arduous work associated with scientific discovery. At Google I/O 2026, the tech giant announced Gemini for Science, a collection of experimental tools that can help researchers generate hypotheses, run tests, and understand scientific literature.

Gemini for Science includes three main features: hypothesis generation, computational discovery, and literature insights. As the name suggests, Hypothesis Generation will facilitate the first steps of the scientific method by combing through millions of scientific articles to propose theories or challenges. That’s all to say that the tool will help a researcher create a hypothesis, but Google added that the claims generated by this tool are “deeply fact-checked and supported by clickable citations” for “absolute rigor.”

Once a hypothesis is created, researchers can move on to the Computational Discovery tool to put the theory to the test. Google describes this tool as “an agentic search engine” capable of generating thousands of tests and experiments much faster than when they are done manually. Finally, Gemini for Science will offer Literature Insights, an AI-powered chat that scans scientific literature for researchers and generates more digestible versions via reports, infographics, or even audio and video overviews. As part of Gemini for Science, Google is also launching its Science Skills tool, which can browse information from more than 30 major life sciences databases and tools so researchers can “perform complex and often manual workflows… in minutes rather than hours.”

Google announced that it is gradually opening access to these Gemini for Science experimental tools starting today. Anyone interested in these AI features can fill out a form on the Google Labs website, but Google will also offer them to businesses using Google Cloud.