Science has long used unexplained answers
Kepler's laws, many drugs and Roman concrete worked before anyone understood why, so verified answers without explanation are still useful knowledge.
Understanding drives long-term progress
Explanations, abstractions and elegant frameworks (Scholze, Deutsch) are what let science build further; bare AI-generated answers risk stalling progress and leave humans dependent.
AI is industrialising academia
Some see AI-fuelled paper mills and grant gaming, while others argue AI still struggles with explanation and with physical experimental science.