A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics

Terence Tao, What's new (Terry Tao's blog), Sep 11, 2026.

Over the last few months, the mathematical capabilities of LLMs have improved dramatically, to the point that they can solve major outstanding problems in many fields of mathematics. However, the push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics, and to the mathematical community. The goals of the AI companies and the goals of the mathematical community are severely misaligned.

We are witnessing a general threat to intellectual work, with misalignment between the outcome of the use of AI and its initial purpose.

A declaration signed by 25 Fields Medallists (including Tao, Avila, Bhargava, Deligne, Hairer, Huh, Kontsevich, Scholze, Smirnov, Viazovska, Zelmanov, and others), protesting the rush by AI companies to solve major mathematical problems as a benchmark — calling it "detrimental to the science of mathematics" and "a general threat to intellectual work." Notes the attribution/plagiarism problems, the loss of the human transmission chain, and the risk that mass-producing "true/false" statements destroys fertile ground for new ideas. Links to the Economist article and a James Maynard interview.

Links

• Blog post: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a-severe-misalignment-of-ai-in-mathematics/
• Declaration page: https://mathandai.org/
• Economist: Top mathematicians are outraged by OpenAI's methods (Sep 11, 2026)
• James Maynard interview: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R9VQnNv5SoI
• Related: openai-navier-stokes-millennium-proof — the Navier–Stokes result that triggered this
• Related: AI and Mathematics — MOC