Mathematician pushes back on Tao's lighthouse metaphor: are mathematicians really most exposed to AI?
lpachter · x · 2026-10-11
Mathematician Lior Pachter questioned Terence Tao's "lighthouse" metaphor about AI prematurely reaching mathematical results: what counts as "prematurely"? Should the quadratic reciprocity lighthouse have been left standing for 200 years so others could learn on the way there?
He also disputes that math is the field most disrupted by AI, arguing translators, travel agents, customer service reps and programmers may be more susceptible. He recalls being asked "What is protein? Is that what mum meant by drink milk?" after a 1999 job talk — a jab at math departments' isolation from adjacent fields.
Related event: Terence Tao's Math 2.0 Talk Sparks Debate Among Mathematicians(21 posts)→
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