Proposal urges AI labs to fund researchers and credit prompts

A growing dispute over intellectual property in AI-assisted research has prompted calls for frontier laboratories to formally recognize human contributions. Critics argue that researchers guiding models toward solutions are currently denied credit for their prompt engineering and conceptual input. Proposed remedies include direct lab funding for academic research, free token allocations, and allowing scholars to retain IP rights while citing AI providers as tooling vendors. Advocates also suggest establishing new prizes analogous to the Nobel or Fields Medal to honor human discoveries made via AI. This framework aims to resolve trust violations by clearly separating tool ownership from discovery attribution. Without such structural changes, stakeholders warn that academic collaboration with commercial AI entities may stall due to unresolved credit and compensation disputes.