Terence Tao joins 24 other Fields Medallists warning of severe AI misalignment in mathematics

banteg · x · 2026-09-12

Terence Tao announced he is among 25 initial signatories — all Fields Medallists — of a declaration warning that LLMs' rapid math progress has created a severe misalignment: AI companies treat solving open math problems as benchmarks, which harms the science of mathematics and its community, echoing broader alignment issues for scientific and creative professions.

Quote-tweeting DCinvestor adds that nearly every intellectually-driven profession will soon write similar letters; professions must rapidly retool, and human intellectual work offering no marginal value over machines may survive only for its "entertainment" value. The Economist has covered the declaration.

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