Terence Tao and 24 Fields Medalists Warn AI Is Severely Misaligned with Mathematics
A Misalignment of AI in Mathematics
In an urgent declaration, 25 Fields Medalists—including Terence Tao, Maryna Viazovska, and Cédric Villani—warn that AI companies' push to solve major mathematical problems as benchmarks is severely misaligned with the goals of mathematics. They argue that mass-producing true/false statements without conceptual understanding, proper writeups, or attribution destroys fertile ground for new ideas, and that the same threat looms over all intellectual work.
The goals of the AI companies and the goals of the mathematical community are severely misaligned.
- tomhow
Comments moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49662371.
- david-gpu
Tao's critique of AI in the field of mathematics reminds me of what French art critic Charles Baudelaire said in the 19th century about photography [0].
Baudelaire argued that photography became a haven for failed painters, the sorts of hacks that could not finish proper training. Photography, as a mechanical rendering of the world, could only record what already existed; it couldn't transform reality the way a painting could.
He also criticized the public's craze for "rushing" into it, and complained that this technical "progress" was weakening the arts.
Do you see some parallels as well?
[0] https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Curiosit%C3%A9s_esth%C3%A9tiq...
- metanoia_
In the Economist article Tao links, Hugo Duminil-Copin, draws a comparison: airdropping someone on the summit of Mount Everest is very different from climbing it.
The fundamental issue with AI solving any perceived difficult problem is that we have lost the journey. The sight atop Mount Everest looks much different when you have climbed compared to being dropped from above.
- road61
It's a turning point for science and beyond. AI has shown itself to be transformative. Even today, it is already changing how research in math (and other sciences) is conducted. In the near future, whether it is LLMs or some other superior method, its capabilities are only expected to grow. The time to ask the question is now: Will AI be arguably the best tool at scientist's disposal, or will it instead be paraded around as a super brain collective that no human or group of humans can compete with, discouraging entire new generations of future scientists from ever entering the field? The jury is out on this one.
- twsted
All clear and understandable. I completely agree.
As developers, we’re seeing this a little earlier.