A growing fight between some of the world's leading mathematicians and artificial intelligence companies has brought an uncomfortable question to the centre of the AI debate: what happens when machines begin solving problems that humans have spent decades trying to understand? Twenty-five winners of the Fields Medal, widely regarded as the highest honour in mathematics, have warned that the race among AI companies to tackle famous unsolved problems could cause lasting damage to the discipline.
The joint letter, published Friday on mathematician Terence Tao's blog, was signed by some of the biggest names in modern mathematics. The signatories include Tao as well as mathematicians from nearly five decades of Fields Medal history, from Pierre Deligne, who received the medal in 1978, to Yu Deng, who was honoured this year.
