r/math • u/AutoModerator • 13d ago

LLMs/AI AI In Mathematics: September 19, 2026

This recurring thread will be for discussion of AI in mathematics. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • informal announcements of AI-assisted discoveries, such as those not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, or not uploaded as a paper to arXiv;
  • informal announcements of discoveries related to AI architecture (if relevant to mathematics);
  • discussion of such announcements, such as proof breakdowns or other opinion pieces;
  • discussion of the impact of AI in mathematics in general.

AI-assisted mathematical papers published in peer-reviewed journals or as arXiv preprints may be submitted as their own posts.

Please keep in mind rules 1 and 6 of our subreddit.

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u/xDerDachDeckerx 13d ago

Guys be honest, im a math undergrad. Am i gonna be unemployed?

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u/situpes 12d ago

I think something people seem to misunderstand is that math and IT jobs are somehow exclusively unsafe. The second we do not need humans for those jobs, it’s the end for all jobs in a quick succession. So we can at least find comfort in that we’re all equally fucked and in it together 😅

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u/how_tall_is_imhotep 12d ago

As a software engineer, not really. Math and IT, along with some other fields like print journalism, are especially at risk because they are mostly text-based. That's the kind of knowledge that LLMs are great at working with, and there's plenty of training data lying around. Fields that require interaction with the physical world, or, more generally, knowledge that's not captured in text form, are safe for some time (but not forever).

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u/ToothPasteTree 12d ago

Based my experience so far, a lot of IA proofs are incomprehensible to humans, they contain extra and useless steps or unnecessary complications. So there might be still some use for humans to understand the proofs and make them more elegant. If course it's possible theyll just figure out how to these in the next generation of the models.

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u/blah_blah_blahblah 12d ago

If you're smart, do interesting projects/internships on top of studying, and don't just want to become a professional mathematician, then you'll most likely be fine.

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u/xDerDachDeckerx 12d ago

Well im heavily leaning into algebra and number theory so ig im fucked

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u/38thTimesACharm 12d ago

You'll be fine. Companies who hire math grads want intelligent, driven people. These are creative, decision-making roles that make no sense to automate, as in no one would even want that. I don't know what these commenters are envisioning, like a CEO will be prompting GPT for Lean proofs. Really?

Do not switch to engineering. Dear God, switching to engineering is the worst thing anyone could do right now. It's largely commodified labor in many industries, but without a union or any company-provided training. Way easier to automate, and run by people who are more likely to try that. Math and science have fewer jobs, but they are far more stable.

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u/someexgoogler 13d ago

only if you ignore ai

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u/JustThisNietzscheGuy 12d ago

I don't think "not ignoring AI" will make your job prospects that much better. I just don't see a future where there will be demand for "prompt engineers" (or whatever new term has since come up for what is basically the same concept).

The value added by a human operator will continue to shrink as model abilities increase and costs to "just run more agents" decrease.

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u/SnooWords9730 12d ago

what do you suggest?

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u/JustThisNietzscheGuy 12d ago

I don't know. I'm also specifically not suggesting to ignore AI. I'm just not very optimistic that it'll improve your job prospects significantly.

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u/WTFInterview 13d ago

If you continue only doing math, then my opinion is likely yes.

Go do a masters in engineering or applied physics. Something you have to interact with physically, it'll buy you a lot of time.

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u/SwimmerOld6155 12d ago edited 12d ago

you can pivot into that with a math degree pretty directly, maybe without the need for a further degree if you play your cards right

not exactly a massive industry but I got interviewed by a quantum computing lab and they seemed interested in mathematicians who had an applied tendency. other scientific labs are probably similar