‘I’m Really Terrified’: A Mathematician Grapples With AI’s Recent Breakthroughs
Mathematician Steven Strogatz expresses concern over the rapid integration of AI into mathematical research, citing corporate competition and ethical disputes over credit. While AI is accelerating breakthroughs, experts worry about the loss of human understanding and the pressure to adopt these tools to remain competitive.
Why it matters
The rapid automation of scientific discovery raises fundamental questions about the future of human expertise and the ethics of corporate-led research.
“The science is thrilling,” the Cornell University professor says, “but there's a lot of human unpleasantness going with it.”
On Tuesday, OpenAI said it had used tens of thousands of agents to solve a 90-year-old math problem, which had a $1 million prize attached. The solution—which still needs to be independently verified—builds on a strategy developed by Spanish mathematicians Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa. The announcement was marred by claims from another mathematician, Tristan Buckmaster, who says that OpenAI rushed ahead to solve the problem after learning of his work alongside Anthropic researcher Levent Alpöge. Buckmaster claims OpenAI also tried to influence who got credit for the work.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in