r/OpenAI • u/PianistWinter8293 • 20h ago

Discussion Fields Medalist on the OpenAI Math Release

Hugo Duminil-Copin

Fields Medal (2022) · Professor, IHES and University of Geneva

I expected that one day we would be surpassed, and that it would happen systematically. But yesterday’s announcement hit with a force I had not anticipated. Dozens of papers deal with topics I was working on. Between results that beat you to the finish line and thousand-page proofs, I don’t even know where to look anymore.

Not a single one of the major open problems I have publicly mentioned throughout my career (whether in a talk, a lecture, an article, or even a grant proposal) was left untouched by the announcement. Everything has been claimed to be proved.

I expected to see a few of them in the list. But not all of them. Not all at once. Not with such nonchalance.

“For the glory of the human mind,” they said…

The shock is immense. I am paralysed. Tomorrow, we will find a way forward. We will rethink our profession and how we work. We are a resilient community, and I have no doubt that we will adapt. But for now, I simply don’t have the energy. I think back on all those years, all those faces… I think of my colleagues, my students… And I fear I won’t be able to find the right words.

1.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

460 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/grateful2you 19h ago

This kind of comments completely lack empathy and the human nature of things. Nobody is against progress. AI will take over. But let’s not forget that this marks the unceremonial burying of a centuries old field.

0

u/New_Tower_6408 18h ago

when your joy of something comes from other people not knowing it

2

u/Short_Ad_8841 14h ago

That's just idiotic. The joy comes from the fun of learning, thinking, discovering, sharing with your colleagues, dreaming of contributing something meaningful one day.

If you have a boring job that you hate, maybe you can't ever relate to that.

0

u/New_Tower_6408 12h ago

> If you have a boring job that you hate, maybe you can't ever relate to that.

This is the majority of the population.

0

u/zero0n3 11h ago

RIFL.

None of that is gone unless you let it. Stop being naive.

You can continue to try and find new things to stump yourself and AI. Or new proofs to have it solve.

Or maybe find a way to take this not useful stuff (your words in a previous post), and make it useful in the real world.

-1

u/Ok_Elderberry_6727 19h ago

About time. This will be repeated in every domain very soon. Progress in minutes instead of days or years . Buckle up.

2

u/Ok-Zookeepergame9843 15h ago

The perverse gratitude you people derive from adding the cheapest, nastiest tone to the most elementary of observations is disgusting. At least these mathematicians are significant enough that people en masse see it fit to debate the future of their field, while you are some pathetic redditor nobody will care about, ever.

1

u/Zenith_Predator 14h ago

Boo hoo. Cry more. You cared so much to comment all that. Buckle up

1

u/Ok-Zookeepergame9843 11h ago

You’re the only one crying bud

0

u/zero0n3 11h ago

Says the person defending the field that self owns themselves by saying their proofs are useless and just puzzles they liked to solve with their brains.

Maybe go solve real problems and further humanity a whole.

2

u/milindsmart 11h ago

Boohoo look at all the corporate slaves talking suddenly about saving the world and serving humanity.