alt Hacker NewsIt'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."
That's the product of math from the point of view of mathematicians. But is it the point of view of those funding math?
I suggest if one looks at the history of funding for mathematics and science, the product of these efforts is not understanding, but rather power. Funding went way up after WW2 when the war demonstrated that power flows from them. Math not only contributed to the scientific weapons of the way, but was directly used in operation planning (the birth of the field of Operations Research) as well as in cryptography.
The reason this matters is that AI is also a quintessential power-oriented technology. From the point of those providing the monetary lifeblood on which modern mathematical practice depends, the current math-AI discussion presents no issue worthy of concern.