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Main Authors: Bridgeford, Eric W., Campbell, Iain, Chen, Zijao, Lin, Zhicheng, Ritz, Harrison, Vandekerckhove, Joachim, Poldrack, Russell A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.22254
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author Bridgeford, Eric W.
Campbell, Iain
Chen, Zijao
Lin, Zhicheng
Ritz, Harrison
Vandekerckhove, Joachim
Poldrack, Russell A.
author_facet Bridgeford, Eric W.
Campbell, Iain
Chen, Zijao
Lin, Zhicheng
Ritz, Harrison
Vandekerckhove, Joachim
Poldrack, Russell A.
contents While AI coding tools have demonstrated potential to accelerate software development, their use in scientific computing raises critical questions about code quality and scientific validity. In this paper, we provide ten practical rules for AI-assisted coding that balance leveraging capabilities of AI with maintaining scientific and methodological rigor. We address how AI can be leveraged strategically throughout the development cycle with four key themes: problem preparation and understanding, managing context and interaction, testing and validation, and code quality assurance and iterative improvement. These principles serve to emphasize maintaining human agency in coding decisions, establishing robust validation procedures, and preserving the domain expertise essential for methodologically sound research. These rules are intended to help researchers harness AI's transformative potential for faster software development while ensuring that their code meets the standards of reliability, reproducibility, and scientific validity that research integrity demands.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_22254
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ten Simple Rules for AI-Assisted Coding in Science
Bridgeford, Eric W.
Campbell, Iain
Chen, Zijao
Lin, Zhicheng
Ritz, Harrison
Vandekerckhove, Joachim
Poldrack, Russell A.
Software Engineering
While AI coding tools have demonstrated potential to accelerate software development, their use in scientific computing raises critical questions about code quality and scientific validity. In this paper, we provide ten practical rules for AI-assisted coding that balance leveraging capabilities of AI with maintaining scientific and methodological rigor. We address how AI can be leveraged strategically throughout the development cycle with four key themes: problem preparation and understanding, managing context and interaction, testing and validation, and code quality assurance and iterative improvement. These principles serve to emphasize maintaining human agency in coding decisions, establishing robust validation procedures, and preserving the domain expertise essential for methodologically sound research. These rules are intended to help researchers harness AI's transformative potential for faster software development while ensuring that their code meets the standards of reliability, reproducibility, and scientific validity that research integrity demands.
title Ten Simple Rules for AI-Assisted Coding in Science
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.22254