alt Hacker NewsLeiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics
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> Terence Tao - Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
> This has been the result of months of community input about the fundamental values and goals of the mathematical community. In retrospect, these were questions we should have been systematically discussing years ago, but in any event the exercise was extremely valuable, and the end result is excellent. I wholeheartedly endorse the statements and recommendations in this declaration.
(Leiden being the town in the Netherlands where Leiden University is.)
The potential threats section reads like panic, rather than a critique of AI. I can see where #2 has some legs, if I thought tradition was sacrosanct.
1. AI proofs might be incorrect and difficult to demonstrate why. This implies they are not like human proofs in these qualities.
2. AI proofs are difficult to attribute correctly, because they don't follow established traditions. Nothing to do with the math, but ok.
3. Mathematicians without AI (for political or practical reasons) will not necessarily be able to participate in AI-assisted research. This history of Mathematics is littered with people having uneven access.
4. People/orgs are publishing that AI found things are fact before they are properly evaluated. Same issue.
5. All these things are bad, because AI might muddy the field with lots of unknowns.
It's worth remembering Thurston's essay on mathoverflow (https://mathoverflow.net/questions/43690/whats-a-mathematici...):
"The product of mathematics is clarity and understanding. Not theorems, by themselves. Is there, for example any real reason that even such famous results as Fermat's Last Theorem, or the Poincaré conjecture, really matter? Their real importance is not in their specific statements, but their role in challenging our understanding, presenting challenges that led to mathematical developments that increased our understanding."