Artificial Intelligence

For most of the history of artificial intelligence, machines followed instructions in a predictable, almost rigid way. A system received an input, produced an output, and stopped. There was no sense of planning, no ability to take initiative, and certainly no workflow that unfolded across multiple steps. That has begun to change. AI agents represent a new direction in the field. Instead of responding to a single prompt, they operate more like collaborators that can reason through problems, choose actions, evaluate results, and continue working until they reach a goal. The shift from passive models to active agents has opened the door to applications that once felt out of reach. 

Around the world, scientists are racing to solve some of the hardest problems of our time. We need better batteries, cleaner fuels, biodegradable plastics, low carbon building materials, safer chemicals, and new ways to recycle what we already use. These challenges are rooted in chemistry, and for decades the process of discovering new materials has been slow, expensive, and incredibly complex.