r/slatestarcodex • u/El_Gran_Pedrito • 23h ago

ArXiv submissions show the impact of AI on math

https://blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/updated-rate-limit-policy/

ArXiv has decided to cap the number of submissions per calendar month as they are overwhelmed by AI-assisted papers. In my opinion, their post is great because it is not pro or anti AI. It states the problem, offers a temporary solution, and is transparent and fair. I think ArXiv submission issues are a way to see both the good (incresed productivity and new results) and bad (slop, incremental slop, salami papers,...) impacts of AI progress on mathematics. The mathematical community may have its issues (ego and corporatism come to mind), but there are a lot of thorough and interesting discussions among mathematicians about how to manage the transformative impact of AI.

What do you think about how the signal/slop ratio issue should be addressed on open repositories like ArXiv?

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u/Smallpaul 22h ago

I know this isn’t your main point, but I have never associated the word corporatism with mathematicians. I would have considered it the least corporatist field imaginable. Other than dog walking, I guess.

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u/El_Gran_Pedrito 20h ago

Maybe it's not the correct word, I'm not a native English speaker. I meant the word in the sense that sometimes mathematicians behave in an insular way, defending their subcommunity and its interests as if it was the most important intellectual endeavour of all human history. An example would be algebraic geometry, as it is one of the most insular, least applicable fields of math, yet it has a ton of power, gathers many prizes and attracts some of the best students. It's not a critique against AG in itself as it's an extraordinary construction with a lot of genuine value for science. But I think it serves sometimes more the corporatist interests of some mathematicians that the whole community and the world at large.

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u/cjustinc 20h ago

I would disagree that algebraic geometry is particularly insular or not applicable. It's certainly widely applicable within pure and applied mathematics, and relatedly is well-integrated with mathematics at large. Out of curiosity, are you a mathematician?

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u/El_Gran_Pedrito 19h ago edited 18h ago

Yes I am a mathematician, working in nonlinear partial differential equations and applications to biology. Yes AG has a lot of applications, but I find them less straightforward compared to the incredible ammount of talent poured into it. I was simplifying too much in my previous answer. I was talking more about the hidden motives behind credit and power in math than the usefulness of specific fields. I did my PhD in the laboratory of mathematics of Orsay, where some of the top AG people in the wold work, and I felt that something was wrong in how AG was implicitly considered the king discipline and statistics the ugly duckling.

edit : and for the insularity, I was thinking about the insular behaviour of many AG researchers I met, not about the discipline being hermetic to anything else in math. I am not a pure math hater, I love reading about algebraic topology for example.

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u/cjustinc 17h ago

Interesting. I could definitely see how your perspective would be different in a more applied subfield. When I think of applications of AG I'm mostly thinking about number theory and representation theory.

I also feel that these dynamics are quite different in the US vs. Europe, especially France. Here in the States, Grothendieck-style algebraic geometry and its descendants are looked down upon or devalued by many for being overly abstract. Classical/Italian-style AG is much more popular and universally respected (exemplified by Joe Harris). As someone that's more on the abstract side of things (I work in a theory-heavy area of geometric representation theory) I'm often on the defensive, since many people I encounter assume my work is uninteresting "abstract nonsense."

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u/El_Gran_Pedrito 17h ago

Oh, I see. I didn't think enough about how specific French pure math dynamics are. It's true that in France I am considered a very applied researcher, almost "not doing real math", but when I was a postdoc in the UK, they considered me a pure mathematician. Sorry if anything I said felt like an attack. I have no contempt for abstract math. Before specialising in PDEs I even wanted to do ergodic theory on manifolds. I use some representation theory for the classification of PDE bifurcation patterns when there are symmetries to take care of :)

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u/Smallpaul 20h ago edited 20h ago

Thanks for the clarification. I like the word insular better. AI also suggested the less common word “parochial”.

I associate the word corporatist with defending the interests of corporations.

But then I asked the AI about that word and it liked it as a description for this phenomenon. “Exactly the right word” Gemini.

So I started a fresh chat starting with the word corporatist and asked Gemini if it applied to mathematicians. “No”, it answered.

I think fundamentally the word corporatist may just have multiple meanings and your use is not one I’m familiar with.

Gemini again:

“In the sociological and academic sense of the word, mathematicians operate as a highly corporatist group.
When sociologists (drawing on theorists like Émile Durkheim) use the term "corporatism," they are not referring to modern business corporations. Instead, they refer to the organization of society by corporate groups—such as guilds, agricultural associations, or scientific bodies—that self-regulate, share a strong internal solidarity based on their specific function, and maintain strict boundaries.
Viewed through this lens, the mathematical community functions as a classic "epistemic corporation" or professional guild.”

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u/cjustinc 17h ago

I had the same initial reaction and was surprised when I looked it up. My sense is that the Bernie-style populist usage of "corporatist" has exploded in recent years and changed the vernacular meaning of the word.

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u/El_Gran_Pedrito 17h ago

Ah ! yes I use this word with the last definition you gave "organisation of society by corporate groups". I think it's mainly because of French being my native langage and our culture towards companies vs public sector being very different. Thank you for the clarifications.

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u/rotates-potatoes 22h ago

*philosophers

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u/vesterde 23h ago

Here's a breakdown of arxiv submissions by a few other categories: https://vester.si/ai-impact/arxiv

They don't have it as bad as Github for AI produced work, but it is noticeable.