How Spatial Biologists Direct and Verify AI-Assisted Analyses

Abstract

Spatial biologists use visualization to assess computational analyses of tissue data. We examine how they direct and verify analyses when an AI agent performs this work. We synthesized workflows from fourteen contextual inquiries and conducted a formative pilot followed by an observational study with ten spatial biologists using Claude Science on their own data. Participants valued help with plotting, locating cells of interest, and tasks they found laborious or could not otherwise perform. Assessing the agent's work involved obtaining suitable evidence, sometimes through additional work in external tools, and interpreting it using knowledge of the tissue and its markers. Scientists also sought information about ongoing computation to decide how analysis should proceed. We contribute a workflow synthesis, an empirical account of scientists directing and verifying agentic analyses, and four design directions addressing execution control, familiar interactive views, source and execution information, and accessible verification across computing setups and experience.