Mathematicians' AI backlash is about forced life changes, not sloppy proofs, argues X thread
avt_im · x · 2026-10-18
An X thread on why mathematicians resent AI proofs: avtim argues that once you know what is correct, the "why" follows — AI actually aids deep understanding, and the real objection is that "people don't like AI because it forces them to change their personal plans." He personally left an academic track because of AI ("I would be a professor right now") and chooses to rebuild rather than hate. AlexShtf adds that a critical mass of mathematicians want deep "why" answers, not just truth — citing Levent Alpöge's point that many value the trappings of math (prestigious journals, universities, rare-skill status) more — plus some who want to keep power. avtim cites Jacob Tsimerman on abstractions being validated by concrete results and predicts AI proofs will soon stop being messy.
More from AGI Musings
- Only a handful of companies seriously work on continual learning and RSI, the rest just buzzword-market — novasarc01 · 2026-10-18
- Critics push back on Anthropic's brain-transformer analogies as over-anthropomorphized statistics — gerardsans · 2026-10-18
- AI biotech turns wet-lab measurements into RL sandboxes for drug discovery — xennygrimmato_ · 2026-10-18
- Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark: "We are in the singularity" — Efficient-Opinion-92 · 2026-10-18
- fchollet: agents now write ~100% of code, yet corporate bottom lines aren't budging — fchollet · 2026-10-18
- Letting LLMs maintain the OpenAPI spec: perfection isn't a prerequisite — charliermarsh · 2026-10-18