Scott Aaronson on AI's 'math apocalypse' and the mathematician's new role

The Mathocalypse

Scott Aaronson uses the term 'math apocalypse' for the shock of AI cracking hard math problems, and contrasts OpenAI publishing results directly with Anthropic's path of having mathematicians organize and present them. He says OpenAI released 372 results yesterday, including a solution to the Unique Games Conjecture, some with Lean certificates, yet humans do not understand almost any of the solutions. The piece asks how researchers absorb this work and how the math community keeps exploration and understanding valuable once AI can supply answers.

Why it matters: Aaronson compares how the two companies release AI math results: open drafts set researchers racing to interpret them, while directed collaboration lets the company pick the human explainers.