I knew mathematicians were a smart bunch, but honestly, the events of the past few weeks have really given me a new level of respect for them.
They might be the first community I've seen to experience the AI "rush" and (at least as presented to an outside observer) immediately come together, assess the situation, and calmly, empathetically, and rationally act. They evaluated what AI is good at and what it lacks. They've thought through how it'll likely affect their field in the future. They've explained where the need for humans still lies, and made clear proposals for how to change their own field and for what demands to make of AI companies. Of course they're not all on the same page, but they're at least talking and trying.
They haven't started worshipping the machine god and loudly claiming their whole field is solved. Nor have they flailed wildly at LLMs as if complaining enough about it will make them go away.
Every major statement I've seen come out of the math community on this matter reads as well thought-through, humble, reasoned, and deeply human.
In these days of fear, uncertainty, and obsolescence anxiety, honestly, they've given me some confidence that maybe we will figure this stuff out after all. Maybe we'll learn from them. Who knows.
Their field is extremely rigorous. As rigorous as it can possibly get in that they have to prove each and every line of their work beyond any doubt. The discipline they have cultivated in their culture shows in their response to AI as well.
As opposed to some other fields in which rigor was either not part of the culture or was not always possible. For e.g., software engineering in terms of code quality being produced. There were some indirect signals here and there but they are all subjective.
I knew mathematicians were a smart bunch, but honestly, the events of the past few weeks have really given me a new level of respect for them.
As a mathematician, I am a bit disappointed by my (admittedly illustrious) colleagues.
I get the need to take it slowly (and I am a quite impatient person, so I shouldn't get to decide stuff like this), but everything said feels a bit too sour grapes for my taste.
Ok, maybe AI did not solve the field (I believe it will, btw), maybe there is a need for human "understanding", but:
1) They don't seem to consider even the possibility (not the certainty) that they might be wrong, that math as we know it is gone, and we cannot "adapt"
2) They seem to have been oblivious all these years about AI eventually reaching this point (at least I personally wasn't, I predicted this stage back in 2018)
Regarding 1, it's not clear what you want them to actually do. Would you rather they just gave up, rolled over and died instead of at least trying to rescue their field? What is to be gained from considering this?
The purpose is obvious - AI companies are using math to as a PR tool to demonstrate that AI is more capable than humans. This devalues math and mathematicians. There is even a relevant announcement from today, where OpenAI announced they solve 100 open math problems, without even bothering to state what they are.
However, even if they are successful in removing math from the PR toolkit of AI companies, I can’t see it more than a short term band aid. If AI progression continues, the announcements will just transition from big flashy one, to a kid using Claude on their laptop.
I don’t have a solution here, and I’m worried it’s coming to all human fields. So it’s more of an ability to observe what might happen to all of us.
I don’t have a solution here, and I’m worried it’s coming to all human fields. So it’s more of an ability to observe what might happen to all of us.
You can also look (as I did back in 2018 when contemplating the end of math) at how chess or Go players adapted mentally to the idea that whatever they may do, a machine could do it better (Lee Sedol famously quit Go).
If I thought this was a good thing to do, this would be a great group of people to do it. But I have immediate misgivings. OpenAI has had some very bad publicity, and so they are trying to exploit the trust and respect that these mathematicians command. It is unrealistic to think that this group can change the way OpenAI does business; I don’t need to tell you all the objections that people have raised to that. Is it a good idea to help their crisis management?
I knew mathematicians were a smart bunch, but honestly, the events of the past few weeks have really given me a new level of respect for them.
They might be the first community I've seen to experience the AI "rush" and (at least as presented to an outside observer) immediately come together, assess the situation, and calmly, empathetically, and rationally act. They evaluated what AI is good at and what it lacks. They've thought through how it'll likely affect their field in the future. They've explained where the need for humans still lies, and made clear proposals for how to change their own field and for what demands to make of AI companies. Of course they're not all on the same page, but they're at least talking and trying.
They haven't started worshipping the machine god and loudly claiming their whole field is solved. Nor have they flailed wildly at LLMs as if complaining enough about it will make them go away.
Every major statement I've seen come out of the math community on this matter reads as well thought-through, humble, reasoned, and deeply human.
In these days of fear, uncertainty, and obsolescence anxiety, honestly, they've given me some confidence that maybe we will figure this stuff out after all. Maybe we'll learn from them. Who knows.
Agreed.
Their field is extremely rigorous. As rigorous as it can possibly get in that they have to prove each and every line of their work beyond any doubt. The discipline they have cultivated in their culture shows in their response to AI as well.
As opposed to some other fields in which rigor was either not part of the culture or was not always possible. For e.g., software engineering in terms of code quality being produced. There were some indirect signals here and there but they are all subjective.
Can't disagree with "deeply human", but I wouldn't always use it in a positive sense:
https://proofsandprompts.com/2026/09/10/open-letter-about-th...
As a mathematician, I am a bit disappointed by my (admittedly illustrious) colleagues.
I get the need to take it slowly (and I am a quite impatient person, so I shouldn't get to decide stuff like this), but everything said feels a bit too sour grapes for my taste.
Ok, maybe AI did not solve the field (I believe it will, btw), maybe there is a need for human "understanding", but:
1) They don't seem to consider even the possibility (not the certainty) that they might be wrong, that math as we know it is gone, and we cannot "adapt"
2) They seem to have been oblivious all these years about AI eventually reaching this point (at least I personally wasn't, I predicted this stage back in 2018)
Regarding 1, it's not clear what you want them to actually do. Would you rather they just gave up, rolled over and died instead of at least trying to rescue their field? What is to be gained from considering this?
Don't give Dario any ideas please.
discussion of oai announcement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49790389
The purpose is obvious - AI companies are using math to as a PR tool to demonstrate that AI is more capable than humans. This devalues math and mathematicians. There is even a relevant announcement from today, where OpenAI announced they solve 100 open math problems, without even bothering to state what they are.
However, even if they are successful in removing math from the PR toolkit of AI companies, I can’t see it more than a short term band aid. If AI progression continues, the announcements will just transition from big flashy one, to a kid using Claude on their laptop.
I don’t have a solution here, and I’m worried it’s coming to all human fields. So it’s more of an ability to observe what might happen to all of us.
You can also look (as I did back in 2018 when contemplating the end of math) at how chess or Go players adapted mentally to the idea that whatever they may do, a machine could do it better (Lee Sedol famously quit Go).
https://archive.is/m9BYI
Is the advisory group abelian? I'll see myself out...
Related:
Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (OpenAI post)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49790389
A comment on the linked post from Burt Totaro:
https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/21/advisory-group-on-...