Terence Tao joins 24 Fields Medalists declaring AI companies' math benchmarks 'severely misaligned'
soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-09-12
Terence Tao announced he is among 25 initial signatories — all Fields Medalists — of a declaration arguing that AI companies' push to solve math problems as benchmarks is detrimental to mathematics and the mathematical community.
Key points:
- LLM math capabilities have improved dramatically and can now solve major open problems, but companies' benchmark-chasing goals are 'severely misaligned' with those of the math community
- The declaration frames this as part of broader alignment issues affecting other scientific and creative professions, and society at large
- Famous problems have served as landmarks; research math is about understanding structures, and its accumulated tools underpin modern science
- Released urgently without a full consultative process (unlike the Leiden declaration), open for further signatures; covered by The Economist
- Rebutter ccatalini argues this is a reason to embrace AI: giving mathematicians time to deepen understanding and ask better questions
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