RexDouglass clashes with Terence Tao over AI-assisted amateur math being dismissed as slop
RexDouglass · x · 2026-09-07
RexDouglass and Terence Tao (@littmath) argue over amateur mathematicians using AI. Douglass claims Tao's position amounts to saying amateurs waste time and compute: wrong results are 'slop' and correct ones deserve no 'credit.' He accuses mathematicians of a double standard — producing their own uncredited work without calling it slop, and refusing to define credit meaningfully, which conveniently dismisses artifacts from certain kinds of people. Tao replies that the criticism is unfair and people should read the original piece. A representative fight over how AI-era amateur research should be judged and credited.
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