Terence Tao on Math 2.0: Mathematics After Proof Scarcity

Published 13 October 2026

Terence Tao's Caltech talk argues that AI has moved mathematics from proof scarcity to proof abundance, making problem solving, long a proxy for progress, harmful to the field when optimized blindly. He calls instead for AI uses that strengthen human understanding: large-scale experimental math such as the Equational Theories Project, clearer expositions of opaque proofs, Mathlib-style formal libraries, and ablation studies of known theorems.