A Call for the Ethical Use of AI in Mathematics
The Leiden Declaration provides a framework for human-centered math research
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There is not an industry or field of research that hasn’t been upended by the rapid development of artificial intelligence. The speed with which AI is changing the landscape of every facet of life makes it difficult to create thoughtful, human-centered policies around its use.
The field of mathematics finds itself at an inflection point. AI would not exist without math but there is concern that AI is being positioned as a replacement for mathematicians–able to solve longstanding open problems in a fraction of the time it would take a human. Yet AI corporations are less than transparent about their methodologies: how the problems are solved, which data the AI was trained on, and how the data will be used.
To create a framework for thoughtful consideration of AI use in the field, a group of mathematicians created the Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics. The declaration, named for Leiden University in the Netherlands, calls on AI corporations and practitioners to act responsibly to ensure the continued flourishing of mathematics as a discipline.
One of the authors is Karthik Ganapathy, Stefan E. Warschawski Postdoctoral Fellow in UC San Diego’s Department of Mathematics. In this 1Q, 1A, he tells us why the Leiden Declaration was necessary.
What are the dangers of unchecked AI use in mathematics?
One of the Leiden Declaration authors is Karthik Ganapathy, the Stefan E. Warschawski Postdoctoral Fellow in UC San Diego’s Department of Mathematics.
Mathematics is a remarkably deliberative field; the direction of research is often the result of years of deep thought among subcommunities of mathematicians across generations, a process that remains the hallmark of basic research. While many of us welcome new technology that can help advance human knowledge, the economic and political factors at play are a cause for concern. Specifically, the increased intervention of AI companies poses a direct challenge to the autonomy of the discipline due to a stark imbalance of power between these companies and the mathematical community.
In an era of underfunding for higher education and precarious academic employment, the tech industry has successfully offered intellectually stimulating opportunities that many researchers find attractive. This growing corporate involvement, however, raises the critical risk that research questions may come to be prioritized because of their amenability to automated mathematics rather than their deeper intrinsic value.
This threat is further compounded by strong incentives for the technology industry to overstate the capabilities of their products and prematurely claim breakthroughs through press releases and blog posts, driven by the constant pressure to outpace their competitors.
This asymmetry is precisely why the Leiden Declaration is necessary. By establishing minimal baselines for scientific integrity that have obtained broad agreement among mathematicians, the declaration hopes to insulate the discipline from market forces, ensuring that the scope and depth of mathematical research remain guided by intellectual significance.
Learn more about research and education at UC San Diego in: Artificial Intelligence
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