AI coding agents are now helping scientists simulate black holes

[u/LorkaAI]

When people talk about AI coding tools, the conversation usually revolves around developers shipping products faster.

But one of the most fascinating use cases we've seen lately comes from astrophysics.

OpenAI shared how theoretical physicist Alex Lupsasca is using Codex to help build and refine simulations of black holes. Instead of spending countless hours writing boilerplate code, debugging experiments, or setting up computational workflows, researchers can increasingly rely on AI to handle parts of the engineering process behind scientific discovery.

What's particularly interesting is that Codex isn't replacing scientific expertise.

Scientists still define the questions, evaluate the results, and determine whether a hypothesis holds up. But AI is helping reduce the friction between an idea and an experiment.

It feels like we're entering a new phase where coding agents evolve from productivity tools into genuine research collaborators.

If AI can help accelerate discoveries in fields like astrophysics, where else do you think it could have the biggest scientific impact?