Untitled

As a mathematician turned Wall Street Quant & trader (and now part-time CS faculty), I do not particularly like unsolved problems. I no longer get thrills from solving problems, rather I care about finding them solved. In that sense AI is a cure (for my poor coding!) and a good part guide. But it doesn’t solve things on its own. AI directed intelligently (& critically) does great things but AI without produces slop when used uncritically. The AI could have done nothing without a human making open conjectures and a human prompting it, often again and again. I have used AI in academic papers to generate a theorem & proof when the result seemed obvious (but the referee asked!) and I had done all the earlier heavy lifting. I have never used an AI output I didn’t fully understand and that is crucial. It lies and hallucinates and we must police it. Academic math will be the hardest hit. It needs to pivot quickly. This is the real challenge. Individuals can move quickly but how do you get institutions to do so? Looking forward to brave new world when mathematicians become AI whisperers. And they are rewarded for their skill in discovering and co-discovering new and exciting areas.