Kevin Buzzard: AI is solving math humans can't, and mathematicians are grieving
stevenstrogatz · x · 2026-10-03
Mathematician Kevin Buzzard argues on the Xena blog that AI for mathematics is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, with language models now solving hard problems humans could not. Using Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief, he maps the community's reactions—starting with denial, exemplified by the Association for Human Mathematics whose members pledge not to publish AI-generated output and offer an "AI-free" research track. Buzzard, who recently noted Anthropic "beat him" to work related to formalizing FLT, is personally excited about the future and sees the transformation as irreversible, while many colleagues appear to be grieving the loss of mathematics as a purely human endeavor.
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