Still, this viewpoint seems to be functionally how a lot of mathematicians think about current AI systems in their own research. He said that “people feel less threatened” by AI systems that serve as powerful search engines than AI systems directly proving mathematical results. If the broader public believes that AI can replace human mathematicians, that might lead to funding cuts. AI systems could hit a ceiling where they can’t come up with fundamentally novel ideas or theories. So some mathematicians, such as Tsimerman, think it’s possible that AI systems become better than humans at all mathematical tasks.