Why I didn't sign the Fields medallists' letter
Timothy Gowers @wtgowers · blog · 2026-09-17 · ★★★★ · archived
The most prominent dissent from the Fields Medallists' declaration: a Fields medallist who agrees there is a crisis but rejects the letter's framing and demands.
Summary
Guest post by Timothy Gowers on Terence Tao's blog, 17 Sep 2026. Gowers explains why he did not sign "A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics". He rejects its ranking of conceptual understanding above problem-solving, saying mathematicians have a range of motivations. He doubts the community cannot digest a flood of AI results. He finds the letter's demands unclear and thinks powerful models will be released anyway. His main worry is social: whether careers and motivation will keep people becoming "custodians of the mathematical tradition". Days later (21 Sep) he joined the Advisory Group on Mathematics and AI (AGMAI), set up after OpenAI approached mathematicians about advising on its 100+ claimed results. Checked via WebFetch.
Archived text
"the primary risk, as I see it, is that a lot of people who would have done a PhD in mathematics … will no longer wish to do so"
Related events
- Fields Medallists' open letter 'A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics' criticises labs' race for famous problems 2026-09-11
- OpenAI says an internal model resolved 100+ long-standing open problems in 24 days of training; no list released 2026-09-21
All posts · id: 2026-09-17-gowers-why-i-didnt-sign-fields-letter