A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics
Fields Medallists (Tao, Deligne, Donaldson, Bhargava, Scholze, Maynard, Avila et al.) · other · 2026-09-11 · ★★★★★ · archived
The original text of the Fields Medallists' declaration, the most senior collective statement by mathematicians against AI labs' approach to mathematics.
Summary
The declaration itself, hosted at mathandai.org (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22737750) and dated 11 Sep 2026, with translations into seven languages and an endorsement system that verifies signers by ORCID or academic email. The site now lists 27 Fields Medallist signatories; 25 were reported at launch. Named signers include Deligne, Donaldson, Tao, Bhargava, Scholze, Maynard and Avila. It argues that "solving problems is only a tool and proxy" for the real goal of conceptual understanding. It warns that mass-produced, rushed and poorly written-up AI solutions (explicitly OpenAI-style announcements) could break the human chain of transmission and damage mathematical culture and training. Tao cross-posted it on his blog ("A severe misalignment of AI in mathematics", 11 Sep). The Economist and Le Monde covered it. Po-Shen Loh's guest post of 19 Sep says a related Math and AI statement had 7,000+ signatories and the Leiden Declaration 4,000+. Timothy Gowers publicly explained why he did not sign.
Archived text
"solving problems is only a tool and proxy for achieving the primary goal of conceptual understanding and insight"
Related events
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