Scott Kominers(@skominers):In the last week, multiple colleagues have expressed concern that generative AI will somehow destroy society's esteem for mathematics and mathematicians. Contrariwise, I conjecture the opposite. I've never seen the level of public fascination with math that we're seeing right now — weekly articles in major outlets; people outside the field teaching themselves arithmetic combinatorics; heck, even the owner of a local café recently asked me to explain the unit distance conjecture. If anything, this seems likely to renew students' excitement, uncover new applications, and open new frontiers — all of which should inure to the benefit of the field and of mathematicians. QED?

2026.06.16 14:32

In the last week, multiple colleagues have expressed concern that generative AI will somehow destroy society's esteem for mathematics and mathematicians. Contrariwise, I conjecture the opposite. I've never seen the level of public fascination with math that we're seeing right now — weekly articles in major outlets; people outside the field teaching themselves arithmetic combinatorics; heck, even the owner of a local café recently asked me to explain the unit distance conjecture. If anything, this seems likely to renew students' excitement, uncover new applications, and open new frontiers — all of which should inure to the benefit of the field and of mathematicians. QED?