Twenty-five Fields Medallists declare AI labs' math-problem race a threat to mathematics

Twenty-five mathematicians, all Fields Medal recipients, have signed a declaration stating that the push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics and to the mathematical community. Terence Tao, one of the initial signatories, wrote that the statement grew out of discussions over the past week and that its urgency did not allow for the consultative process used for the earlier Leiden declaration. The group has posted the declaration online and invited further signatures. The text acknowledges that the mathematical capabilities of large language models have improved dramatically to the point that they can solve major outstanding problems, but argues that the goals of AI companies and the goals of mathematicians are severely misaligned, and links this to broader alignment problems in other scientific and creative professions. According to TechCrunch, the letter says solutions are often announced in a rush, leaving no time for a proper writeup, isolation of new methods, or citation of previous work, raising severe attribution and plagiarism questions. OpenAI's Navier-Stokes proof remains unverified. This week NYU professor Tristan Buckmaster accused OpenAI of pressuring him not to credit an Anthropic collaborator. On Thursday, OpenAI withdrew its sponsorship of a math event at Caltech after criticism from researchers at the university.