This would suggest that "general" AI is impossible.
ON THE OTHER HAND
There is a variety of general AI, called an "optimizer". It starts with something better than a void. Maybe that's the path we should be looking at.
Via aesthetics etc.
Or, in the case of the optimizer, I think the human equivalent would be desire.
To talk about the models some more...
There's this big mass of models. And it's got all kinds of sections. Special sections that we learn about in school. Special sections called "science". Sections that we invent ourselves. Sections that we inherit from our parents, religion, etc. It's partially biological. Partially cultural. A massive library of models, mostly inherited.
You move in relationship with the mass in different ways.
You can create new models. That's what basic science is. Extending the edge of the mass. Naming the nameless.
You can operate freely from the mass. Creating your own models or maybe operating model-less. Artists, mystics, weirdos.
You can operate completely within the mass. Never really contending with unmodelled reality. The map and territory become one. Like in a videogame. I think that's the most popular way.