| AI systems, particularly large language models, are often viewed as a direct path toward autonomous scientific discovery and rapid economic transformation. While their capabilities in pattern recognition, cross domain synthesis, and hypothesis generation are already exceptional, this view misses a critical reality: intelligence alone is not sufficient for progress. Scientific and economic breakthroughs depend on grounded interaction with reality, causal validation, and institutional execution. The following framework maps where AI creates value, where it is constrained, and why human–AI collaboration remains the dominant structure for meaningful real world impact. [link] [comments] |