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A misalignment of AI in mathematics

mathandai.org

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Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#771

Post by int_19h »

kibwen wrote: post #601
timcobb wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does success look like?

There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this, timcobb—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless^W not also subscribed to ChatGPT. If you want a pictur…

> There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life.

How does the ability or inability of AI to do something blocks your curiosity or enjoyment of the process of life?

Not being able to pay bills because you're out of job does ruin the enjoyment of life, sure. But the AI is not the problem there; the economic system is. Torches and pitchforks should be properly applied to the economic and the political elites, not to data centers.

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#772

Post by int_19h »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #654
pks016 wrote: post #584

I never expected this many people (on this thread) arguing semantics and what not. I know that not everyone has morality and ethics, but I didn't realize it was this bad. I'm afraid of the ripple effect of the agenda pushed by AI companies will have. In future and even now, they say AI has significantly progressed math and scientific research in general. There is truth to this, but the narrative has done more damage…

I commented something similar on a bunch of other posts. The thing that scares me about a lot of the AI community in general is that their utopia is basically more frightening to me than their doom scenarios. They present this "incredible abundance" as the ultimate human endgame, but I agree, when we all end up like the humans in Wall-E, what's the purpose of it all? And then to get retorts of "it's just just rich te…

You're basically saying that there's no purpose to it all if there's no human suffering involved, somehow.

Why? Is suffering the purpose? What is the goal?

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#773

Post by int_19h »

bubblegumcrisis wrote: post #469
causalmodels wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do we do about the problems that don't require many millions of dollars in resources? Last weekend I spun up a small agent swarm and pointed it at a field of math I have some affinity towards. Within four hours I had settled three conjectures, one of which is rather famous (for the field, not in general). It cost me about four hundred dollars. I am at a loss about what to do with these results. On one hand I fee…

It is interesting isn't it. You asked for a painting. A robot made the painting. You looked at it and said, "well, I guess it's good. Should I put it online or something? Dunno. Hey Fred, what do you think of this?" Meanwhile, your next door neighbor spends their entire life developing their understanding of life through art. They "understand" (maybe not in a way they can articulate) art. You go next door, you look a…

If we're all painters, where does the food come from?

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#774

Post by raincole »

pks016 wrote: post #584

I never expected this many people (on this thread) arguing semantics and what not. I know that not everyone has morality and ethics, but I didn't realize it was this bad. I'm afraid of the ripple effect of the agenda pushed by AI companies will have. In future and even now, they say AI has significantly progressed math and scientific research in general. There is truth to this, but the narrative has done more damage…

I think the impact is heavily exaggerated. Yes, it means mathematics will be transformed into a field that relies on tools instead of your mind alone. Just like most fields. Doctors heavily rely on (really expensive!) tools to make diagnoses and do surgeries too. But it doesn't make them less valuable. If anything it makes them more valuable, as the society needs a long training and filtering process to decide who to use these tools.

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#776

Post by munksbeer »

pvab3 wrote: post #621
gpt5 wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the main thing people in this thread are missing, is that it's not about math. AI progression is very likely to affect every single thing humans can do today. Mathematicians are feeling the blow this week, especially as there was wide spread denial in that math community over the capabilities of AI over the last few years, but it's the same problem everywhere.

that is incredibly depressing

I feel the opposite. Human history is depressing overall. I imagine AI will eventually lead to less scarcity and better lives overall.

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#777

Post by tomrod »

pseudotensor wrote: post #652
tomrod wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Job protectionism for elite mathematicians under guise of caring about student development. Huh. Weird. This hasn't been my take of mathematicians at all. The dozens I know are quite humble and dedicated to math and the beauty one finds in it.

"guise" doesn't mean they don't care. It means they are shadowing their concerns when in reality they have concerns primarily about what AI will do to their success in math and the credit they will receive in the rest of their lifetime -- i.e. their legacy.

Again. Weird. Doesn't jive with my experience. One or two in the dozens I know, sure, but not enough to be a stereotype.

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#778

Post by blondie9x »

This might be one of the most powerful pieces ever written on AI. Where is the United States government? When will we see legislation we so desperately need? We have one party in total control of the government and what have they achieved? Corruption through brings and delays; the inability to legislate and even worse overriding efforts by other jurisdictions to protect humanity's best interests and privacy.

Re: A misalignment of AI in mathematics

#780

Post by int_19h »

Xelynega wrote: post #314
jimkleiber wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this is a root of the complaints across fields, how AI is ruining the greater picture and process in writing, acting, drawing, filming, coding, and more. That it makes life more ends and less means.

It's also known as "commodification of labour", and AI is just the latest and greatest tool to do it. Luddites complained that the trajectory of technology was to allow less skilled workers to mass produce goods via machines owned by factory owners, as opposed to helping skilled workers build up and use their skills while passing them on. Now we have a lot of money and time focused on LLMs owned by a few companies, m…

> Luddites complained that the trajectory of technology was to allow less skilled workers to mass produce goods via machines owned by factory owners, as opposed to helping skilled workers build up and use their skills while passing them on.

And their complaint was valid from their perspective, but the end result of that process is that now you can have functional and pretty clothing for pennies.

It's true that a lion's share of the gain was pocketed by people who owned the mechanized looms. Now imagine how much more of an advantage it would have been without those people.

Same thing here. We can - and should - get rid of all the megacorp leeches. But the benefits of cheap automation remain regardless, and it's still the same equation - removing the gatekeeping harms those who relied on it to keep the products of their labor priced high, while benefitting everyone else.

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