[Anchor]
Mathematicians around the world have expressed concerns over the unbraked speed competition among artificial intelligence companies. They warn that mathematics could lose its original purpose and turn into a game.
How does Professor Huh June-hee, a Fields Medalist often referred to as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, view this issue? Reporter Choi Seung-hun asked him directly.
[Reporter]
Recently, after OpenAI announced that its AI agents solved a 90-year-old mathematical problem in just 88 hours, Professor Huh June-hee of Princeton University—who received the Fields Medal in 2022—along with 24 other past laureates issued a joint statement.
They pointed out that "solving problems is merely a tool and a proxy for the fundamental goal of conceptual understanding and insight," describing recent moves by AI companies to use the solving of difficult problems as an arena for technological competition as "harmful."
Within three days of the statement's release, some 6,000 researchers worldwide joined in.
In an interview with SBS, Professor Huh warned that mathematics could lose its core purpose amid such competition.
[Huh June-hee / Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University: "(I am concerned that) it could become entrenched in a way where it proceeds like a game, having lost the original purpose of (mathematics)."]
He also expressed concern that if AI equipped with massive resources solves difficult problems in an instant, students could fall into intellectual defeatism.
[Huh June-hee / Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University: "It plunges you into skepticism, making you wonder, 'Is this even meaningful?' when you start a research project now and hope for results 10 years later."]
From January to August, the number of math-related posts uploaded to preprint servers reached approximately 47,000, surging by more than 33% compared to a year ago.
The academic community notes that while AI use is leading to a mass production of papers, it remains uncertain whether humans can fully understand and verify all of their contents and processes.
They argue that if AI repeatedly learns from AI-generated results that humans fail to properly comprehend, knowledge may increase, but humans' capacity to understand and question for themselves will weaken.
[Huh June-hee / Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University: "I believe that the most important role of a human being and a mathematician is to constantly stay curious, maintain intellectual curiosity, and forge new horizons."]
Experts also point out that to move beyond indiscriminate competition for achievements, open-source AI and public support systems that anyone can utilize are necessary to prevent AI resources from being concentrated in a handful of companies.
(Video reporting: Park Hyun-chul, Video editing: Shin Seeun, Design: Lee Ga-jin)
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