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When Papers Learn to Draw: AutoFigure and the End of Ugly Science Diagrams

Opening — Why this matters now AI can already write papers, review papers, and in some cases get papers accepted. Yet one stubborn artifact has remained conspicuously human: the scientific figure. Diagrams, pipelines, conceptual schematics—these are still hand-crafted, visually inconsistent, and painfully slow to produce. For AI-driven research agents, this isn’t cosmetic. It’s a structural failure. ...

February 4, 2026 · 4 min · Zelina