Welcome to the AI crisis in math | Decoder

Our guest today is Robert Hart, The Verge’s London-based AI reporter. Robert recently wrote a fantastic story for us about the debate raging inside the world of mathematics — and the existential crisis over what it means that new frontier AI models have become very good at math in a shockingly short period of time. So we wanted to dive into all of this with Robert, who actually spoke to some of the most accomplished mathematicians working today to figure out what’s hype and what’s real — and to get a sense of just how exciting, and how scary, all of this is. #math #ai #openai #technology 0:00 Intro 1:43 Interview: Robert Hart on AI & math 3:20 Why AI got better at math 7:13 OpenAI's Astra & 10 breakthroughs 9:02 Attribution & credit controversy 12:09 Repeatability 14:12 Logic, code & verifiability 15:36 How did the models do this? 17:25 Mowing down problems vs. progress 19:58 The PhD crisis 21:52 Gary Marcus & skepticism 24:38 Democratizing math 27:38 The Leiden Declaration 30:57 Economic incentives & pure research 33:27 Optimism vs. shell shock 34:50 Outro Follow Decoder on TikTok: @decoderpod Follow Decoder on Instagram: @decoderpod Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://bit.ly/3ZWTlLs