Terence Tao proposes AI-assisted challenge to revisit a classical Gauss problem
robleclerc · x · 2026-10-21
Terence Tao announced a collaborative mathematical challenge connecting recent AI-generated arguments about Landau–Siegel zeros to a classical number theory problem dating back to Gauss.
Rather than asking AI to crack a new conjecture, Tao proposes a different experiment: using AI to examine, compare, and strengthen arguments for a theorem that is already established. The problem concerns nine positive integers tied to imaginary quadratic fields whose rings of integers have unique factorization: 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 19, 43, 67, 163 (the Heegner numbers).
Commentary on the post notes Tao has moved through anger, bargaining, and depression into acceptance — "the next generation of mathematicians will look back like this was a pre-calculus era."
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