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Mathematics and the LLM: 2026 – Coordinate Change

math.toronto.edu · 890 words · saved by 1 readers

With the advent of the Large Language Model, mathematicians may engage in Socratic dialogue with the entire mathematical literature. We may largely bypass the irritations of computer programming in designing experiments. We may even hope to transcend the aggressive specialization that has emerged in our subject since the beginning of the last century. And, not least, we now possess an increasingly adept mechanical assistant for reasoning, proof, and verification. The emergence of such a remarkable new tool, during such a fertile period of human talent, could lead to an era of expansion – with a more ambitious vision for mathematics and an improved concept of what the mathematical literature should be. But as machines resolve conjectures on which careers were staked, some in the field are reacting with alarm. And the panic reveals a deeper identity crisis: What even is mathematics? Shall we view it as the mechanical derivation of consequences from axioms? If so, shall we amass a library

A letter to the mathematical community, to be published in the Notices of the AMS With the advent of the Large Language Model, mathematicians may engage in Socratic dialogue with the entire mathematical literature. We may largely bypass the irritations of computer programming in designing experiments. We may even hope to transcend the aggressive specialization that has emerged in our subject since the beginning of the last century. And, not least, we now possess an increasingly adept mechanical assistant for reasoning, proof, and verification. The emergence of such a remarkable new tool,…

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