On Terence Tao's blog, mathematicians debate what their work is for after OpenAI's 700-paper dump
Two guest essays in two days, one practical and one philosophical, from working mathematicians trying to make sense of AI-produced proofs.
Terence Tao's blog ran two guest essays this week on how mathematics should respond to AI. In "Mathematics has changed. Let's act like it" (Nov. 1), mathematician Frank Calegari calls OpenAI's Oct. 6 release of more than 700 research papers a watershed, while saying the papers are "atrociously written," violate the field's norms on attribution, and that some are wrong. He compares the moment to the classification of finite simple groups, which he says cooled interest in that subject, and argues mathematicians should reward people who choose worthwhile problems and understand AI-found proofs, and reform hiring and journals rather than try to change AI companies.
In "Egoless Mathematics in the AI Era" (Nov. 2), Karthik C. S., Amit Sahai and Jie Xue argue that anxiety about being replaced comes from measuring mathematicians by output, and that a truth "has become accessible; its worth is not diminished by the absence of our authorship."
Tao notes both posts were converted to the blog's format using AI.
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Classification of finite simple groups
After exploring Mathematics has changed. Let’s act like it | What's new, the precedent Calegari leans on is Classification of finite simple groups.
Explains the classification of finite simple groups, a proof spanning tens of thousands of pages in several hundred articles by about 100 authors, published mostly between 1955 and 2004.
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