We’re gonna need a lot more mathematicians

Guest post by Amit Sahai. He argues that research mathematicians should not leave the field even as AI produces ideas faster than humans can follow: this is “a time for humility: a time when all of us are going to know what it feels like to be unable to keep up”. Using the example of an AI-designed terawatt fusion plant that communities should understand before it is built, he calls for a “deployable intellectual reserve” of mathematically trained people, shared study of AI-generated results by research groups, and independent expertise rather than reliance on the organisation proposing a technology. In the comments he says he co-organises a Simons effort on the state of the field with a report of concrete action items coming (the Simons working-group report is in the AGMAI entry). 74 comments, many critical about jobs and academic careers.