The Dark Night of Mathematics
The author expresses a personal crisis regarding the impact of LLMs on the field of mathematics, specifically noting the recent generation of counterexamples to long-standing conjectures. The piece reflects on the existential threat AI poses to the traditional role and professional value of human mathematicians.
Why it matters
It highlights the growing tension between AI-driven discovery and the human-centric academic tradition in scientific research.
I am going insane. During the last week or so LLMs have produced a number of counterexamples to significant long-standing conjectures. I will not recount these happenings here, there are many places where you can find the details.
Mathematicians, math enthusiasts, and curious laypeople are responding to these developments in ways that I believe obscure what is, for me, the true heart of the problem. I do not speak for everyone in the math community in my response. But I suspect I am not alone.
I am suffering a profound spiritual crisis due to these developments. I have been screaming internally for days. It feels as though I am living inside of a nightmare. The recent Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics is, to me, a well-muffled scream. A saccharine mélange of self-soothing over which looms a painfully obvious absence.
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