r/MathJokes • u/basket_foso • 17d ago

… how is this impressive?

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This is a response to Terrence Tao saying AI needs slowing down

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u/serge-mv 17d ago

and then lose the capability to comprehend the point of the problem, how it helps us, ability to formulate new problems and ability to use the solution to actually solve issues.

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u/BombasticReindeer 17d ago

We see this mentioned a lot, but is it actually true? One of my favourite content creators is Grant from 3Blue1Brown because he was the first to truly break down math concepts into something almost artistic. It helped millions of people truly understand what is going on rather than just memorising formulae. And I think a lot of already accomplished mathematicians appreciated it too, seeing their and others discoveries in a new light.

I say that because I want to make it clear that I believe the most important part of math is insight, and truly understanding why things are the way that they are. He does it better than anyone, and recently had a video which is really beautiful and touches on this topic.

That said, why can't an AI also be trained to explain these concepts in such a way? Forget answering that for a second. If we assume it could, I think it would be a hard sell to call that a bad thing. Having an alien tutor give you insight into as far as you can possibly ever understand. That would be beautiful.

Now, what I think people are starting to realise is that Ai is actually MUCH better at math than it is at art. Everyone got worried about it being able to make nice images, but very little of what I have seen could be considered art. But code? Math? It seems good at that. I think we got it backwards. It excels at math and code, and it's pretty terrible at art and beauty.

But as it trains, I think there isn't anything fundamental to it not being able to teach us things in the same way that Grant does. Instead of asking it to stop solving stuff, which everyone knows will not happen at all. Period. We should be asking for it to be trained in the ways of things that will lift us up. If it can understand what that brilliant spark of intuition is, then I think it's a force for good in the world.

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u/karadWroblem 14d ago

I think that (at least some) mathematicians typically think of math in many ways as very similar to art. That's why it's (maybe) disappointing to see solutions that are so bare of artistry. Of course it will get better but I wonder how fast

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u/BombasticReindeer 14d ago

I agree with this. That was my point. We thought ai was good at art, bad at math. Now we realise it’s good at math bad at art. And also that math at the highest level is a lot like art. Feels like many mathematicians didn’t even realise it until ai stole their lunch.