{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-28-mathathon-joint-statement/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-28-mathathon-joint-statement/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-09-28-mathathon-joint-statement","date":"2026-09-28","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Caltech 'Mathathon' is reworked into 'Old Problems, New Proofs' after an open letter from mathematicians","deck":null,"takeaway":"On Sept 28, 2026 Caltech's organizers and the signatories of an open letter against the AI-sponsored 'Mathathon' published a joint statement on Terence Tao's blog.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":2,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"Terence Tao: Joint statement about Mathathon","url":"https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/28/joint-statement-about-mathathon/","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"terrytao.wordpress.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Recommendations of the Summit on PhD Math Education in the Age of AI","url":"https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/25/recommendations-of-the-summit-on-phd-math-education-in-the-age-of-ai/","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"terrytao.wordpress.com"},{"n":3,"title":"Open letter about the Mathathon","url":"https://proofsandprompts.com/2026/09/10/open-letter-about-the-mathathon","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"proofsandprompts.com"}],"official":2,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["Caltech","XTX Markets","SAIR"],"title":"Caltech 'Mathathon' is reworked into 'Old Problems, New Proofs' after an open letter from mathematicians","summary":"On Sept 28, 2026 Caltech's organizers and the signatories of an open letter against the AI-sponsored 'Mathathon' published a joint statement on Terence Tao's blog. The event is renamed 'Old Problems, New Proofs' (Nov 13–15, 2026). Participants learn existing hard proofs, then write new expositions, and cash grants usable for any tool (LLM credits, HPC or pen and paper) replace proprietary-AI sponsorship.","key_facts":["Joint statement posted Sept 28, 2026 on terrytao.wordpress.com","The original open letter (proofsandprompts.com, Sept 10) gathered 2,000+ signatures","New format: 40 hours learning existing hard proofs, then two months producing new expositions","Tool-neutral cash grants replace proprietary-AI sponsorship; XTX Markets is lead donor, SAIR co-organizes","Also that week on Tao's blog: recommendations of the Harvard/CMSA Summit on PhD Math Education in the Age of AI (Sept 25)"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["mathematics","community","ai-and-math","education"],"science":{"field":"mathematics","subfield":"community / research practice","problem":"How AI-assisted problem-solving events should be run","result":"AI-sponsored Mathathon reworked into a tool-neutral exposition event after community objections","open_since":"","ai_system":[],"human_role":"Human-led","verification":{"key":"none","label":"Unverified claim","text":"Official joint statement"},"status":"confirmed","shock":""},"body_md":"## What happened\n\nA public dispute over an AI-lab-sponsored math competition ended with the event redesigned around understanding and exposition rather than AI problem-solving.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt is part of the September 2026 push by research mathematicians to set norms for AI in their field, after the Fields medalists' letter, the ICIAM statement and OpenAI's advisory group.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-09-24-iciam-statement-mathematics-ai","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-24-iciam-statement-mathematics-ai/","date":"2026-09-24","date_precision":"day","short_title":"ICIAM issues a Statement on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence","deck":"LMS had commented on the Navier–Stokes episode","takeaway":"It shows that the September 2026 controversies reached formal institutional positions across the international mathematical societies.","category":"policy-safety","category_label":"Policy & safety","importance":2,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":4,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["ICIAM","London Mathematical Society"]},{"id":"2026-09-18-sair-open-math-model-initiative","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-18-sair-open-math-model-initiative/","date":"2026-09-18","date_precision":"day","short_title":"SAIR launches the Open Math Model initiative for community-governed open-weight math AI, plus Lean Kernel and Andrews–Curtis challenges","deck":null,"takeaway":"It is the most concrete attempt by leading mathematicians to build an open, independent alternative to frontier labs' math AI, with governance and data-consent rules written in from the start.","category":"open-source","category_label":"Open source","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":10,"official":9,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-20","orgs":["SAIR Foundation","Lean FRO","Caltech"]},{"id":"2026-09-11-fields-medalists-letter-ai-mathematics","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-11-fields-medalists-letter-ai-mathematics/","date":"2026-09-11","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Fields Medallists' open letter 'A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics' criticises labs' race for famous problems","deck":null,"takeaway":"It marked open tension between AI labs and the mathematical community at the moment AI began producing major results, and shaped norms for credit and verification.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":8,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-07","orgs":["mathandai.org"]}],"people":[{"id":"terence-tao","name":"Terence Tao","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/terence-tao/"}],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-09-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-04"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":151,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":90,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":181,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":120,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}