Abstract Throughout history, scientific progress has been defined by the tools we build to extend our perception. Today, artificial intelligence stands as our newest instrument, not merely as a computational engine but as a revolutionary lens for deciphering the nature of reality. Drawing on my research journey at Google DeepMind, this essay explores how scientists are deploying AI to overcome the hardest “root node” bottlenecks in science. By applying machine intuition, we are uncovering breakthroughs across biology, materials science, and mathematics, from solving the grand challenge of protein folding with AlphaFold to charting new universes of stable materials with GNoME. The essay concludes by reflecting on the transition toward open-ended, agentic AI systems that actively generate novel hypotheses and their implications for the nature of scientific inquiry. We are evolving from the solvers of intricate puzzles into the architects of profound questions, embarking on the most exciting journey of discovery ever undertaken.
Pushmeet Kohli (2026) studied this question.