Terence Tao is a mathematician at the University of California, Los Angeles and a recipient of the Fields Medal in 2006. He is the most publicly visible mathematician commenting on the use of AI systems in mathematical research, and is one of twenty-five Fields Medallists who signed the September 2026 declaration "A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics."
Positions on AI in mathematics
Problem-solving against theory-building. In a lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians on July 26, 2026 — written before OpenAI's August 1, 2026 announcement of ten claimed machine-produced results — Tao distinguished the solving of open problems from the building of theory. Gary Marcus cited the lecture in arguing that OpenAI's announcement supplied "a numerator without a denominator," on the ground that the distinction Tao drew is the one the announcement elides (Astra; Source: garymarcus.substack.com).
Endorsement of the Leiden Declaration. Tao is one of eight featured individual endorsers of the Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics, the recommendations document produced by a sixteen-member working group over the eight months following a September 2025 Lorentz Center conference. His endorsement states that the document "has been the result of months of community input about the fundamental values and goals of the mathematical community," that "[i]n retrospect, these were questions we should have been systematically discussing years ago," and that he "wholeheartedly endorse[s] the statements and recommendations in this declaration" (Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics (2026)).
The 2026 declaration. Tao is a signatory to "A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics," published at mathandai.org and recorded as 11 September 2026, which states that "the push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics, and to the mathematical community" and that the goals of AI companies and of the mathematical community "are severely misaligned" (A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics (Fields Medallists' declaration, 2026)). He published a post of the same title on his blog What's new the same day, which is the channel through which most coverage of the declaration reached the record. In it he recorded that the signatories forwent a more consultative drafting process of the kind used for the Leiden declaration because of the urgency they perceived, and invited further endorsements — a comparison that is his and does not appear in the declaration text (Source: terrytao.wordpress.com).
The declaration's position is narrower than opposition to AI in mathematics. It concedes that model capabilities have "improved dramatically, to the point that they can solve major outstanding problems in many fields of mathematics," states that "AI offers the potential of enhancing and accelerating genuine mathematical study and understanding," and calls for no regulation, prohibition or pause (A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics (Fields Medallists' declaration, 2026)). Its objection is to the institutional consequences of treating a discipline's open problems as a capability benchmark, and to the attribution practices of rushed announcement.
Relationships
- endorsed: Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics (2026) — one of eight featured individual endorsers
- related: A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics (Fields Medallists' declaration, 2026) — signatory, and the declaration's public voice
- related: AI for Science — the sequence of claimed results his positions respond to
- related: Machine-produced mathematics: claims, verification and credit — the comparison of those claims on verification, disclosure and credit
- related: AI Benchmarks and Evaluation — the problem-solving-against-theory distinction as an objection to the benchmark framing
- related: Astra — the announcement his ICM lecture was cited against
- related: Autoformalization and Machine-Checked Proof — machine-checked proof as a distinct activity from theory-building
Sources
- Declaration: A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics (Fields Medallists' declaration, 2026) (Source: mathandai.org)
- Terence Tao, "A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics," What's new, 11 September 2026 (Source: terrytao.wordpress.com)
- Gary Marcus on the ICM lecture and the Astra announcement (Source: garymarcus.substack.com)