“Be a Grothendieck!”—On AI and Mathematics

What is mathematics? Over the years I devoted a few dozen posts to the question “What is mathematics?”. Some posts in this category bring tears to my eyes like Christine Bjorner’s beautiful post: The Golden Room and the Golden Mountain, and Rodica Simion’s poem Immigrant Complex. In one post, I presented my own views about mathematics; another asks the question “Is mathematics a science?” (My short answer is “yes.”) The famous controversy between Hilbert and Brouwer is discussed in yet another post. This debate resembles, in my mind, the debate between pro-AI and anti-AI mathematicians. This category includes art by Alef; essays by Shmuel Weinberger, Igor Pak, Thomas Vidick, and others; my paper with Nati Linial on ten landmarks in mathematics; Tom Lehrer’s songs; a discussion of the difficulties involved in teaching induction; a couple of connections to sex; “Proof by Lice!”; and the sad fate of The Möbius Undershirt. Alex Kontorovich gave a plenary lecture at ICM2026 on AI and…

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