25 Fields Medalists Critique the Race in Artificial Intelligence

Twenty-five recipients of the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics, have voiced their concerns regarding the rapid resolution of mathematical problems by artificial intelligence, publishing a joint open letter. The letter, released on September 11, criticizes the race among AI companies to solve mathematical problems as tests.

The scientists highlighted a serious mismatch between the objectives of companies and those of the mathematics community. In recent months, the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) have significantly increased, reaching a level where they can solve some important open mathematical problems.

Among the issues raised in the letter were: solving problems is not the primary aim of mathematics—it serves as one of the tools for understanding new ideas, methods, and concepts; an increased emphasis on quickly producing "correct" or "incorrect" answers could harm the scientific environment necessary for the formation of new mathematical ideas; the urgency of announcing solutions could exacerbate issues of authorship and plagiarism, as there would not be enough time allocated to distinguish new methods and reference previous research.

The scientists do not reject artificial intelligence but emphasize the importance of managing it.

They asserted that the participation of human mathematicians is essential for fully integrating mathematical ideas into science: discussing, simplifying, and relating ideas to previous knowledge requires human interaction. The authors call for an urgent discussion of the issue involving the mathematical community, companies developing AI technologies, and the broader public.

They believe this situation in mathematics serves as a warning for other scientific and creative professions and society as a whole.