OpenAI solved hundreds of long-standing math problems in months, and top mathematicians are weeping in public.
Over the past few months OpenAI has thrown out hundreds of math proofs across number theory, theoretical computer science and logic. Many of these problems had stumped the world's best minds for decades, even centuries.
The reaction in the math community has been anger, astonishment and grief. Hugo Duminil-Copin, winner of the 2022 Fields Medal, said he cried the night of the release and woke his daughter.
It is not about bruised egos
The author called Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz, who brought up Archimedes writing to Eratosthenes two thousand years ago: 'There will be no lack of discoverers to stand on my shoulders.'
Strogatz's voice broke: 'Archimedes is talking to me. We are in this together, questing for something beautiful and transcendent.'
The machine has now cut that chain. Hundreds of proofs released at once say: from here on, we speak, and you can be quiet.
Knowing without understanding
AI proofs often take alien shapes that even experts cannot follow. Strogatz compares this to Google Translate, which solved live translation but taught us nothing about linguistics.
That is knowledge without understanding. It can save lives, and it can leave humans out altogether.
Mathematicians may still teach, argue, and translate machine logic into human insight. The machine discovers; the humans converse — if we are wise enough to keep that half of science alive.
Why it matters
The shock of AI is bigger than lost jobs. It is turning science from a long human conversation into a black box that keeps spitting out answers. The answers arrive, but the people who understand them disappear.
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