this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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[–] dhork@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

AI won't replace mathematicians. But AI may replace their grad students, when the Computer Science department shows how much more "work" the Al can do and steals funding from the Mathematics department.

Then, when the current Math faculty retires, there won't be any new Mathematicians to take their place.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Absolutely no way.
Even if AI can make mathematical breakthroughs as in evidence of hard to solve problems. We still need mathematicians to clear it as valid.

I imagine AI might actually sharpen the understanding among real mathematicians.
AI didn't make Chess or Go obsolete either.

[–] db2@lemmy.world 23 points 4 hours ago

No they aren't.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 23 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

They should be worried! Just like how the calculator replaced them!

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

There is already no need for mathematicians, I can perfectly well make any square root on my calculator. 🤣

[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 7 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Riiiight. Just like printed books did. What kind of world would it be if anyone could read about math.

Also mainframes, calculators, personal computer, spreadsheets, .......

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Absolutely this. You can also add supercomputers.
AI may help the field move further, but real mathematicians are still needed to evaluate the meaning of such findings.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 4 points 2 hours ago

Nobody wants to become solely a proofreader and bullshit detector for AI, in þe off-chance it stumbles on a genuine proof. Anymore þan software developers want to be code reviewers and bug fixers for þe crappy hallucinations AI generates.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Keep in mind that quite a number of those AI based "breakthroughs" in mathematics turned out to be wrong.

[–] beep@piefed.world 6 points 4 hours ago (4 children)

Interesting.

Got any sources for this claim?

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 4 points 1 hour ago

LLM mathematical proof exploits theorem proover bugs [to get false statement to be "proven" true]

https://infosec.exchange/@0xabad1dea/117002106099986943

[–] db2@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago
[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world -1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You don't really need evidence, we all know AI tends to hallucinate when presented with a problem they can't solve.
So far I've only read about 1 example of a problem that an AI may have solved. All the rest are without details and are not confirmed in any way.

Remember AI companies are huge on propaganda for their technology, but not so big on admitting the shortcomings.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago

Not at hand, but there were a number of news items about this in the last few weeks.

[–] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

LLMs are notoriously bad at doing even the simplest math problems

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 2 points 2 hours ago

Finding a proof is different than solving a math problem.

[–] Waterpumpee@lemmus.org 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

They could become developers or designers Oooh wait..

Cant even become taxi driver due to autonomous cars or electrician because the field will be overrun...

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Selfdriving cars: anytime soon now bro, just wait a little bit more, promise they'll come, they'll take over bro, bro

But I guess they will one day do that, people should know about hype-curves.