english word · 2026-08-25
emergence
noun
Meaning
A phenomenon where a complex system develops new, sophisticated abilities that its individual parts did not possess on their own. In AI, this is like how a pile of bricks cannot keep you warm, but when arranged as a house with a fireplace, the ability to provide 'shelter' suddenly appears.
Etymology
From the Latin 'emergere', meaning to rise up or come forth.
Examples
"The researchers were surprised by the emergence of logical reasoning in the model, as it was only trained to predict the next word in a sentence."
"Social behaviors in robot swarms are a classic example of emergence, where simple individual rules lead to complex group coordination."
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