>AI tends to accept conventional wisdom. Because of this, it struggles with genuine critical thinking and cannot independently advance the state of the art.

all AI works on patterns, it's not very different from playing chess. Chess Engines use similar method, learn patterns then use them.

While it's true training data is what creates pattern, so you do not have any new "pattern" which is also not already in data

but interesting thing is when pattern is applied to External World -> you get some effect

when the pattern again works on this effect -> it creates some other effect

This is also how your came into existence through genetic recombination.

Even though your ancestral dna is being copied forward, the the data is lossy and effect of environment can be profoundly seen. Yet you probably don't look very different from your grandparents, but your grandchildren may look very different from your grandparents. at same point you are so many orders moved from the "original" pattern that it's indistinguishable from "new thing"

in simple terms, combinatorial explosion + environment interaction