On Terence Tao's blog, Frank Calegari calls on mathematicians to adapt after OpenAI's 700-paper release
Hesamation · x · 2026-11-02
Frank Calegari's guest post on Terence Tao's blog argues mathematicians should stop treating AI as an existential threat after OpenAI's October 6 release of 700+ research papers. Key points:
- "Choosing worthwhile problems may end up mattering more than producing proofs"; the field should rethink what makes a good mathematician.
- In "the ugly truth", he warns of a growing gulf between producing novel proofs and demonstrating real understanding, criticizing rushed AI papers; OpenAI's papers are poorly written, violate attribution norms, and some are wrong.
- Proposals: evaluate all math work as if AI-generated; hire for vision over paper counts; publish fewer but better papers; train students for ambitious problems.
- Overall optimistic: AI could free mathematicians to explore previously unreachable problems.
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