Caltech's Hirosi Ooguri on why AI may solve physics in ways we can't understand
TOEwithCurt · x · 2026-10-19
TOE with Curt hosts Caltech's Division Chair of Physics, Math and Astronomy Hirosi Ooguri in his first English podcast on whether AI could discover the laws of physics before humans do.
Key points:
- AI has moved faster in mathematics than physics; Ooguri fears it could "solve" physics in a way humans cannot understand.
- Quantum field theory still lacks a firm mathematical foundation; quantum gravity remains the "final boss."
- Covers the swampland distance conjecture he proposed with Cumrun Vafa, and his estimate that verifying string theory could take 2,250 years if left to humans.
- Also the anecdote of PhD thesis numbers turning up in a Mathieu group table twenty years later.
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