Chapter 128 The Digital Renaissance

• As Emma entered adolescence, she realised that artificial intelligence could be a useful research tool as well as a creative collaborator. This realisation drastically changed Emma's perspective on knowledge creation and artistic expression and brought up important issues regarding the nature of human intelligence and creativity.
• The change started when Emma worked with the university's computer science department and came into contact with sophisticated AI systems. Emma received an invitation from machine learning applications researcher Dr. Sarah Kim to investigate how AI might improve her current research techniques and creative processes.
• Emma was surprised by the powers of AI-assisted research when she first experimented with it. The systems were able to analyse enormous volumes of scientific material, spot cross-disciplinary trends, and produce theories that supported her gut feelings. As AI enabled her to simultaneously analyse genetic sequences, behavioural patterns, and temperature data, her research on butterfly migration grew rapidly.