Terence Tao on math proofs and why AI needs public reasoning chains
r0ck3t23 · x · 2026-08-24
Terence Tao notes that mathematics forces honesty because proofs require a verifiable chain from claim to axioms, removing the incentive for bluffing found in other fields. The author contrasts this with current AI models, which are trained on polished human conclusions rather than the hidden reasoning chains, resulting in fluent but unsubstantiated outputs. The post argues that adopting the mathematical standard of building verifiable, inspectable chains—code that runs, proofs that verify—is the path to building trustworthy reasoning machines.
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