Terence Tao and 24 Other Fields Medalists Sign Letter Slamming AI Companies Over Math
ns123abc · x · 2026-09-12
Terence Tao and 24 other Fields Medalists signed a public declaration arguing there is a "severe misalignment of AI in mathematics" and that AI companies' approach is damaging the field.
The letter, published at mathandai.org, acknowledges that LLMs' math capabilities have advanced dramatically — solving major open problems across fields — but argues that treating problems as brute-forceable benchmarks harms mathematics: famous problems serve as landmarks whose real value lies in the ideas and community process they spark, while AI labs "announce solutions in a rush, leaving no time" for that process. The signatories frame this as part of a broader misalignment affecting other scientific and creative professions — "a general threat to intellectual work." It marks the most authoritative collective pushback yet from the math community against AI labs.
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