Mathematics in the Age of AI

What a privilege to live in a time with Terence Tao. His clarity of thought is my favorite attribute of my favorite mathematicians.

These quotes seemed particularly relevant, even to software:

These statements particularly rung true:

However, the writing often dwells at length on trivialities, while passing very briefly through (or even obscuring) the most interesting and novel portions of the argument.

A proof may end up being too slickly written — with both the routine and difficult parts of the argument being presented as equally easy to digest.

In a human-written proof, the parts of the argument that the author found difficult will typically retain some natural friction that prompts the reader to slow down and pay more attention.

An excessively AI-polished proof may remove both “artificial” and “natural” friction, without actually encouraging the reader to learn and understand the key ideas of the argument.