Frontier AI downs Millennium Prize problems; mathematicians face a dark night
Dr_Atoosa · x · 2026-11-01
A Noema essay by Atoosa Kasirzadeh (DeepMind research scientist, CMU assistant professor) charts AI's disruption of mathematics: in recent months unreleased frontier systems completed a full formalization of Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, produced a solution to Navier-Stokes, generated hundreds of manuscripts purporting to prove important problems, and on Oct 26 felled another Clay Millennium Prize problem. Mathematicians react with optimism, anxiety and disorientation — PhD student Kirwin Hampshire's July essay "The Dark Night of Mathematics" described a profound spiritual crisis at the prospect of human obsolescence. The essay argues AI is transformative but not the final chapter.
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