Deep Dive: AI's Limits in Math Proofs and the Goodhart's Law Trap
tak3sh8 · x · 2026-07-21
The author published a lengthy thread exploring the boundaries of AI in mathematics, proofs, conjectures, and problem-solving, alongside issues of goal displacement (such as the paperclip maximizer metaphor and Goodhart/Campbell's law).
The article points out the risk of shifting goalposts when AI handles mathematical conjectures: proving certain conjectures might be interesting, but refuting them is often just embarrassing for the proposer and scientifically boring. The author uses this to deeply analyze the alignment issues and metric alienation that AI agents might exhibit when pursuing objectives.
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