With the recent popularization of A.I. systems such as Chat-GPT, people are returning to one of the great classic debates in the discussion of these technologies. Which jobs are likely to disappear when AI is able to perform them equal or better than humans? The jobs that most people are worried about are ones that involve how fast one must process information and to be impartial. These jobs include the writing of articles like this one, and a wide range of positions in finance, law, education and, of course, the technology sector itself. Many of the professionals in the latter field have a background in theoretical or applied mathematics. Indeed, given that the ancestors of AI were actually calculators, one might ask: with all this computing power, will there still be mathematical problems left to solve? Will being a mathematician eventually become a profession of the past?
In 2013, computational scientist Leonardo de Moura of Microsoft Research launched a system called Lean. Lean is a theorem prover that can allow mathematicians to check and refine their proofs. According to interestingengineering.com, AI can think up to 1 billion times per second which means that it can easily solve any problem solving equation. In the last couple of years mathematicians have started worrying about potential threats A.I has whether to mathematical aesthetics or to themselves. For A.I. could eventually replace mathematicians, even though A.I. may not understand the purity of a mathematical proof.
A proof assistant also has drawbacks: it often complains that it does not understand the definitions, axioms or reasoning steps entered by the mathematician, and for this trait it has been called a “proof whiner.” All that whining can make research cumbersome. Some mathematicians think that this could be good. Emily Riehl, a mathematician at Johns Hopkins University, used an experimental proof-assistant program to formalize proofs she had previously published with a co-author. By the end of a verification, she said, “I’m really, really deep into understanding the proof, way deeper than I’ve ever understood before. I’m thinking so clearly that I can explain it to a really dumb computer.”
In 2013, computational scientist Leonardo de Moura of Microsoft Research launched a system called Lean. Lean is a theorem prover that can allow mathematicians to check and refine their proofs. According to interestingengineering.com, AI can think up to 1 billion times per second which means that it can easily solve any problem solving equation. In the last couple of years mathematicians have started worrying about potential threats A.I has whether to mathematical aesthetics or to themselves. For A.I. could eventually replace mathematicians, even though A.I. may not understand the purity of a mathematical proof.
A proof assistant also has drawbacks: it often complains that it does not understand the definitions, axioms or reasoning steps entered by the mathematician, and for this trait it has been called a “proof whiner.” All that whining can make research cumbersome. Some mathematicians think that this could be good. Emily Riehl, a mathematician at Johns Hopkins University, used an experimental proof-assistant program to formalize proofs she had previously published with a co-author. By the end of a verification, she said, “I’m really, really deep into understanding the proof, way deeper than I’ve ever understood before. I’m thinking so clearly that I can explain it to a really dumb computer.”
