On the future of mathematics in the dawning age of AI
The steam engine revolutionized transport. Back then, if you were strictly into the horse part of horse carriages, you went out of business. But if your concern was transportation beyond horses, you received an enormous boost.
Feynman was famously fond of showing off his mental arithmetic skill. Impressive as that was, we don’t feel it as a loss that the pocket calculator made it obsolete — it freed us to focus on more gratifying tasks.
In this vein, mathematics as such is about to be boosted — empowered to progress further and faster. Just the “horse-riding” routines of math activity will follow mental arithmetic into becoming recreational activity.
It is telling that the conjectures being solved by AI tools these days are ones I have never even heard of before. The deep structural problems remain open.
But now we have a formidable new power tool to mount the attack, making progress that was previously unthinkable finally reachable.
Emphasis on tool: A broad misconception appears to be that AI just takes over, like expecting a power drill to build your garage by itself.
Created on July 28, 2026 at 13:28:31. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.