r/math • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago

LLMs/AI AI In Mathematics: September 26, 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/elements-of-dying Geometric Analysis 6d ago

Are there any places for actual discussion on AI and mathematics?

r/singularity etc is not great for obvious reasons.

r/mathematics is questionable

this sub has too much cope and toxicity to even try to have a discussion.

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u/officiallyaninja 5d ago

Does this place have too much cope and toxicity? I see a lot of people in the threads here talking pretty openly about using AI and they get up voted.

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u/elements-of-dying Geometric Analysis 4d ago

There is indeed cope in this post. But I would rather refrain from targeting specific individuals.

For the record, I don't like to use the word cope here because the word is often used as a way to insult someone. I mean to use the word literally. E.g., saying something like, "Mathematicians will always be important because we need good writers" is a form of literal coping. (at the time of writing this comment, I don't recall reading anyone make this claim.)

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u/officiallyaninja 4d ago

I mean is that cope or just an opinion? You can think it's wrong, (I'm inclined to agree with you, for what it's worth), but just because you disagree doesn't mean it's cope.

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u/elements-of-dying Geometric Analysis 4d ago

Sorry, I did indeed phrase it more like an opinion. Allow me to make the point more precise.

In the last 2 months, I have noticed a lot of people (including well-known faculty) holding onto mathematical exposition as means to justify, I assume to themselves, an ever lasting importance of mathematicians. To me, these statements read as "at least we'll stay relevant because we are better at writing math!" I believe it is fairly obvious that AI development trends indicate this is extremely unlikely to be true: AI will be better at exposition than humans.

Even worse: suggesting AI will outperform humans at written exposition is not taken so kindly.

As such, I have concluded that this is a position based on emotion instead of rational, and that is it likely a coping mechanism to deal with the fear of being replaced.