Terence Tao: AI is cracking major math conjectures, "but we can afford to be slower"
rohanpaul_ai · x · 2026-09-21
At Caltech's Science x AI Summit, Fields Medalist Terence Tao voiced rare reservations about AI's pace in mathematics. He acknowledged AI is "solving major conjectures left and right," but argued the resulting value is far weaker than work done in a "leisurely, principled manner" — "where we are now is not right." Math isn't a crisis: "problems like Navier-Stokes, we don't urgently need them next week." Commenters predicted elite specialists across intellectual fields will repeat this pattern: welcoming AI as a tool, then asking it to slow down once it starts doing the field's prestige work.
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