Terence Tao Warns of a Crisis in Mathematics Driven by AI
Fields Medalist Terence Tao delivered a lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia arguing that mathematics faces a foundational crisis comparable to the 1900–1930 period, but this time over professional values rather than logic. He highlighted the First Proof project where 4 AI systems solved 7 out of 10 novel research problems at a publishable level for $10–$1,000 each, creating a bottleneck: proofs pile up waiting for verification, exposition, and peer review that human mathematicians cannot keep up with. Tao warned that formally correct proofs beyond any human’s ability to explain may soon emerge, and called for normalizing AI disclosure and shifting prestige from being first to publishing clearly and canonizing results.