Terence Tao warns AI is 'non-renewably' mining open math problems, threatening open science
Simon Willison · rss · 2026-09-09
Mathematician Terence Tao warns that AI is reshaping research incentives in mathematics. He previously noted that the collection of good, fruitful open problems is being "mined in a non-renewable fashion" and could become scarce.
His new concern: even a rumor that someone is working on a problem can now trigger massive AI-powered effort to "flatten it" before the original research project reaches its full potential.
He fears incentives may soon push mathematicians to stop sharing promising research directions with the broader community—reversing centuries of open science tradition and doing serious long-term damage to the field.
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