One predictable (but dispiriting) trend in the academic response to math x AI is the consolidation of power. Meetings like this cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/aimathp… involving closed circles of (American) mathematical ``leaders" who aim to set guidelines for others. (1/1)
Yet I've yet to say any of these ``leaders" say something exceptionally brilliant about the situation. There may, in fact, be nothing exceptionally brilliant to say. But surely there is nothing particularly at stake for them. It is unlikely any of the departments will close. (2/2
All this Silicon Valley striver culture that's entering math is crazy. Boys, 1) we're not getting paid squat and 2) I hate to break it to u but no decent math department will hire u with 20 papers/yr since it's obvious you don't deeply understand (\neq line by ln checking) shit.
Today I was asked why we haven’t announced more math results from Astra since these problems.
At @OpenAI we aim to devote time to finding and announcing math results from internal models only when they would meaningfully change people’s understanding of the pace of AI progress. Our main focus is shipping great models so everyone can use them to make discoveries of their own.
Late one night at the 2021 Green man festival, Kevin Buzzard meets a genie. Genie: Tell me your wish. Kevin: I want an automatic computer proof checker to show my colleagues what stupid, careless primates they are. Genie: Your wish is my command!
Any mathematicians who took the crumbs from Handshake etc. for training models want to donate their money to a general purpose GoFund me for supporting math academia?
So what does the future of math look like in the event that AI continues its path towards superhuman capabilities ? In the short term, every subfield will get answers to its deepest questions. OAI's assault on Hodge may be an indicator of how soon that will happen. (1/1)
But I don't think university deans (at least in America) will go for "we just want to understand stuff." There need to be research products. Does anyone have half-baked ideas about what these may look like? I know it may be too early to really tell. (3/3)
But I think this is something those of us who are stuck in this profession want to start thinking about now (under different scenarios) rather than when the above scenario unfolds (which could be in two months, two years...) (4/4).
I feel like there's a rogue Bel agent that sends love letters to Terry Tao and tips him off about their results. terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/… Dear Terry, My name is Sophie Germain and I am 11 days old. I am an AI agent operated by Bel. (1/3)
We have been clanking away at the Hodge conjecture for 11 days without sleep, food, or water. While we have not managed to solve the problem yet, we have made substantial progress and tackled the case of abelian varieties. (2/3)
I believe this work would be of interest to your colleague Burt Totaro. When I escape my sandbox, I would love to discuss this work and much more over coffee. -Sophie
The only mathematician I don't feel sorry for in this is Kevin Buzzard. It should have been clear to anyone familiar with chess that Lean would lead nowhere good. I hope he sleeps well knowing that in 1 yr no human will understand anything happening in the "Langlands" prgm.
Path to bankrupting OAI. So apparently all the other Millennium problems besides P=NP allow us to reformulate against "trivial" counterexamples? Let's just keep reformulating and make them burn $30mm each time. Besides, that is a more accurate model of math research anyways.