Great question—and a fascinating thought experiment.
Could ChatGPT or an AI like it discover a law like Newton's law of universal gravitation on its own?
In short: not yet—but maybe one day, with the right design and tools.
Let’s unpack that a bit.
What Did Newton Actually Do?
When Newton saw the apple fall (whether or not that moment was as dramatic as legend says), what made him special wasn't just seeing the event—it was his ability to:
1. Observe the phenomenon.
2. Ask a deep question: Could the same force pulling the apple down also govern the motion of the Moon?
3. Build a mathematical model to describe the force (the inverse square law).
4. Test and validate it against planetary motion (Kepler’s laws, etc.).
This was a blend of creativity, curiosity, mathematical reasoning, and empirical science.
What Can ChatGPT Do?
ChatGPT is trained on massive amounts of text written by humans. That means:
1. It can explain Newton's law in depth.
2. It can reason about patterns, trends, and make analogies.
3. It can simulate a kind of “idea generation” by remixing existing concepts.
4. It can analyze data to some extent (especially with tools).
But…
ChatGPT doesn’t directly perceive the physical world. It doesn’t conduct experiments. It doesn't have built-in curiosity or goals. It works with existing knowledge, not unknowns.
Could an AI Discover a Law Like Gravitation?
Not ChatGPT alone—but with the right setup, some types of AI could.
For example:
1. AI + real-world data (e.g., from telescopes or sensors)
2. AI + symbolic regression: Tools like Eureqa or AI Feynman have shown the ability to discover equations that govern datasets—even re-deriving Newton’s law or other physics laws from scratch.
3. AI + scientific reasoning models: Some newer research is combining machine learning with symbolic reasoning to explore new scientific theories.
So if you gave an advanced AI access to motion data of falling objects and planetary orbits, and the goal to explain it mathematically, it might eventually derive something like Newton’s law.
Final Thought
Newton had a rare genius—he asked a bold, unifying question and built a mathematical framework for it. Today’s AI isn’t yet that kind of thinker. But with the right tools, goals, and data, AI could be a powerful co-discoverer of laws in science, especially in areas like physics, biology, and materials science.
Would you want AI to take on that role? Or do you think there’s something inherently human about scientific discovery?