The ability of AI systems to produce new mathematics is advancing at a breathtaking pace. Mathematics as a product of human culture and as a profession is undergoing profound changes. For the sake of clarity, all discussion below reflects my own personal views.
My own (evolving) thoughts include:
"One-shotting" results (prompting for a full solution to a problem, often without having the background to understand the problem or the potential solution) should be strongly discouraged, and I commit not to do it myself: human understanding is advanced through struggling through/having fun with a problem, and a checkmark that says "solved" has by itself limited value and can often be a net negative. If one-shotting becomes the norm, it is very hard to see how a shared human understanding of mathematics can survive.
OpenAI and Anthropic are having a profoundly destructive influence on the mathematics commons (partly but not only due to their one-shotting with models only available to them). Mathematicians should not collaborate with them in any shape or form.
I use AI to help with literature search, error checking, "technical" aspects of my work (e.g. implementing the technical details of a strategy my co-authors and I developed) and "idea brainstorming" in a similar way to what I would do with a colleague. I acknowledge the line between the latter and one-shotting is potentially diffuse and requires careful monitoring.
Any use of AI, and lack of AI use, should be carefully and precisely acknowledged in all papers going forward. In particular, the genesis of idea generation should be explained in detail. Exposition, both in written form and in presentations, should take a more important role than it currently has. Researchers should not be required to to use AI, or to use AI in a specific form, as a precondition for their participation in the mathematical community.
Given the high stakes involved and the rapidly evolving landscape, I believe mathematicians should take a more proactive role in helping shape the future of our profession. These are some current events I feel strongly about:
October 8, 2026: regarding the OAI drop, I share Terry Tao's post here in full as I couldn't have put it better myself:
"My feelings on recent developments are very mixed and complex.
On the one hand, many of the AI-generated proofs appear to introduce clever new ideas that will be fruitful once digested, while also building upon the existing contributions of countless human mathematicians past and present. But at the same time, I am deeply frustrated that, in sharp contrast to traditional breakthroughs, none of the humans involved in these proofs are available to take questions, give talks, attend conferences, submit papers to journals, train students, or otherwise participate in the subsequent development of these results.
Similarly, I am excited by the possibility of the community being able to use these tools to tackle ambitious and large-scale projects that one could not have even dreamed of in the past. But I am horrified by the many person-years of ongoing patient and deliberately slow research efforts – particularly by graduate students and postdocs – towards many motivating problems in mathematics being casually disrupted or destroyed by such a release. Much as one cannot unhear a movie spoiler or a crossword clue, one cannot explore a problem as profitably and richly once one is aware of an existing solution. Yes, one can still analyze and digest such an answer; but the best opportunity to do so is at the moment of its discovery, and such moments are increasingly wasted when delegated entirely to AI tools.
And I mourn the path not taken, and the opportunities lost in the frantic race to develop this technology. Labs submitting their frontier models to independent researchers for proper scientific evaluation. Coordination with the research community to ensure these tools are applied to complement and enhance the abilities and activities of human researchers, rather than compete with them. Use of these tools to foster collaboration and sharing, rather than competition and secrecy. Opening new doors, without closing old ones.
But that is not the path we now find ourselves in. Instead, the community needs to come together more than ever. To clearly declare our own standards and values, to build our own tools and practices, to support our most vulnerable members, and to chart our own path forward. Let’s get to work."
September 20, 2026: There is a new(ish) Association for Human Mathematics. It welcomes mathematicians who pledge either limited or no use of AI in their work. While it looks like my current AI use narrowly excludes me from joining, I think it is a very positive development as a variety of responses to AI developments will make the mathematics community more resilient and diverse.
Below are links to essays, social media accounts, blogs and videos that I've found illuminating. They express a diversity of points of view and are from a wide cross-section of mathematicians, from students to fields medallists. (I can't keep up with the pace of essays on the topic so this list is becoming outdated.)
Proofs and prompts, a communal blog on Math and AI.
I am sad about AI in Maths by Sophie McLean (added October 10).
The big reset in mathematics by Daniel Spilman. This extensive essay is among the ones that come closest to my own current views.
A severe misalignment of AI in mathematics, by 25 Fields medallists.
Statement from Tristan Buckmaster regarding work related to Navier-Stokes .
Look, Mom, I pressed a button! by Danny Calegary.
The fate of the Riemann hypothesis, by Richard Schwarz. Short story about a dystopian near future.
@tao (Terry Tao) on Mathstodon. Extensive discussion on how the field should evolve, and lots more.
@littmath (Daniel Litt) on x . Lots of fantastic insight and reactions.
@thomasfbloom (Thomas Bloom) on x . Lots of interesting commentary, especially around Erdös problems (Thomas created the "official" list of Erdös problems and keeps track of which ones have been solved by humans and/or AI).
The last generation of mathematicians, Curt Jaimungal's podcast interviewing Jacob Tsimerman.
Tim Gowers's blog. Some very insightful posts on various topics around AI and math.
\begin{proof} . A declaration by a group of mathematicians who pledge not to use AI in any form.
The crisis of AI generated mathematics, by Max Weinreich. Another cogent case for refusing to use AI as a community.
Mathematics in the age of AI. Terry Tao's public lecture at ICM 2026.
No country for mediocre mathematicians, by Garvy . A substack post discussing (among other things) the contributions of "average" mathematicians as it relates to AI and more generally.