Seconded, as not only is this an interesting idea, it might also help solve the issue of checking for reproducibility. Yet even then human evaluators would need to go over the AI-reproduced research with a fine-toothed comb.

Practically speaking, I think there are roles for current LLMs in research. One is in the peer review process. LLMs can assist in evaluating the data-processing code used by scientists. Another is for brainstorming and the first pass at lit reviews.