Mathematician Steven Strogatz weeps over AI’s recent breakthroughs, warning that the field could soon be dominated by algorithms rather than human minds.

The Cornell University professor grapples with a 90-year-old problem solved by OpenAI with the help of tens of thousands of agents, overshadowed by claims of rushed and uncredited work.

Strogatz and collaborator Alex Townsend see AI as both a tool and a threat. While AI helps accelerate research, it also makes their expertise feel obsolete. Townsend laments dedicating 15 years to research only to find his peak performance overshadowed by AI.

Strogatz likens the current moment to a horror movie, where AI, driven by poorly understood systems, closes in on human expertise. He fears the future could be an annus horribilis for mathematics, with AI becoming the primary driver of breakthroughs.

The debate over credit and the future role of human mathematicians is at the heart of the conversation, with Strogatz questioning whether proof digestion, explaining complex concepts to the public, will still be a human task in the age of AI.