25 Fields Medallists warn on AI math; Gowers declines to sign, OpenAI forms advisory group
elsleightholm · x · 2026-11-05
In September 2026, 25 Fields Medallists signed a statement warning that AI companies optimize for solving math problems while mathematicians seek deeper understanding of why things work.
- Fields Medallist Timothy Gowers publicly declined to sign, arguing problem-solving is a legitimate goal of math and questioning whether abundant AI-generated results would be harmful
- Gowers wrote a piece on Terence Tao's blog: "the best we can do is recognise the changes that are coming and try to work out the least unsatisfactory way of dealing with them"
- OpenAI has since formed an independent advisory group of mathematicians including Gowers, addressing AI-generated research, verification and academic credit
The author notes the debate is evolving: the bigger question may be what we want mathematics to become.
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