Mathematical Beauty, Truth and Proof in the Age of AI
1 min read
Summary
Artificial intelligence has had a growing impact on mathematics in recent years, with mathematicians using it to discover new patterns, invent new conjectures and find counterexamples, and to create proof assistants to help verify the correctness of proofs and to organise knowledge.
But some are concerned that if automation becomes more widespread, it could alter mathematicians’ ability to think creatively and diminish their focus on detail.
Others suggest that outsourcing some parts of proofs to AI could free mathematicians to focus on providing explanations and conveying important ideas, and to play the role of critic or experimentalist.
Mathematics could also become closer to the laboratory sciences or the arts and humanities, requiring more collaboration and experimentation.
While some believe that AI will be able to prove many things, others think it could shift mathematicians’ focus to a different level of abstraction, and still others think it could lead to a transformation into a more qualitative subject like the humanities.
However, many agree that it will still be some time before AI can prove significant theorems, and that humans will still have a role in mathematics.
