The development of the artificial intelligence is proposing a scenario in which many of today’s common professions could disappear or be profoundly transformed. A recent report estimates that, Over the next decade, AI can destroy up to 2.3 million jobs in Spain alonea forecast that has intensified the debate on the most negative side of technological development.
Among the occupations that frequently appear as potentially replaceable by AI systems are programmers, software developers, data engineers and other professionals linked to the technological field. However, researchers and experts have now put the spotlight on a profession that, at first glance, might seem much more difficult to replace: the mathematicians.
AI begins to compete with mathematicians
Nearly 40 high-level mathematicians met this August at the company’s offices OpenAI (Creators of ChatGPT) in California to analyze a future in which mathematical research is left completely in the hands of artificial intelligence.
The scenario generates concern among some of the specialists present. “I think there is a possibility that we will end up in a world where there is no high-quality mathematical research and the human mathematical experience is completely lost.”has stated Daniel Littone of the attendees and a professor at the University of Toronto.
AI systems have evolved considerably in recent years and their capabilities go far beyond solving complex exercises.. Its most advanced models are already capable of not only solving advanced problems, but even proposing new paradigms.
A recent example of this evolution occurred when an unpublished AI model from OpenAI managed to refute the unit distance conjecture, a problem posed by a Hungarian mathematician in 1946. The strategy used surprised specialists, who described it as “ingenious” and “elegant.”
This is not an isolated case. Other artificial intelligence models, such as Claude, have also managed to solve problems belonging to the field of elite mathematics. These advances show how far machines can go in calculation and research tasks and raise a particularly relevant question: whether they can carry out this type of work at a speed much faster than human speed.
The challenge goes beyond finding a solution
The progress of these systems could allow mathematical research to be generated at a speed that is difficult for any human team to achieve.. But some experts remember that mathematical activity is not only about obtaining a correct answer or proving that a statement is true.
Bryna Kraa, a professor at Northwestern University, defended this idea by pointing out that “mathematics is about understanding results. ‘It’s not just about proving the result.'”
Despite the possibilities posed by technology, the mathematicians gathered at the conference do not believe that the demise of their profession is imminent. However, they consider that the automation of such a complex intellectual activity can serve as a preview of what could happen in other professions.
From OpenAI, for their part, they reject this approach and defend that the development of these tools must place people at the center.. The priority, according to the developers, must first be “people, human beings and mathematicians”, seeking a future in which artificial intelligence serves to complement, and not necessarily replace, research carried out by humans.