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Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

terrytao.wordpress.com

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Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#31

Post by azan_ »

lowsong wrote: post #19
sega_sai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it comes to coding, non-programmers do not have to be in a defensive position worried that their job is under risk, instead they just see a great tool that saves them time, especially doing boring coding like dashboards, visualizations, interactive web-pages, or doing experiments that they otherwise would not have time for.

"When it comes to a field I'm not an expert in, AI is a great tool." Every time.

Tao is not an expert in math research? That's a really high bar then.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#33

Post by cma »

alansaber wrote: post #22

I always enjoy these "domain expert has fun using AI to do something in their domain" articles. But it's always a hobby project, never something serious.

But he's also using AI for formally verified math and for ideas in solving math problems. The part about it being ok because it is a supplement just means ok that these aren't formally verified and may have bugs, and may also mean ok to not credit the AI for the paper as it is just a visual supplement and not the main work.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#34

Post by rsfern »

alansaber wrote: post #22

I always enjoy these "domain expert has fun using AI to do something in their domain" articles. But it's always a hobby project, never something serious.

Terry Tao has actually been one of the more prominent voices in the math community exploring AI for cutting edge mathematical discovery. This particular post is a bit softer but he has also written a lot about using AI assistance for serious core research

Nov 2025: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/

https://academy.openai.com/public/blogs/terence-tao-ai-is-re...

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#35

Post by dboreham »

alansaber wrote: post #22

I always enjoy these "domain expert has fun using AI to do something in their domain" articles. But it's always a hobby project, never something serious.

Serious things tend to be long and tedious and potentially full of proprietary information.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#36

Post by kccqzy »

muragekibicho wrote: post #8

The article's awkward opening statement proves it wasn't written by AI. I have been interested in machine-assisted ways to do and teach mathematics from as far back as 1999, when I started coding several applets in Java 1.0, both for my complex analysis and linear algebra courses, to visualize various mathematical objects I was interested in (such as honeycombs or Besicovitch sets).

It’s very much Terrence Tao style. His style is having long sentences that could have been broken down into shorter sentences but he chose not to. It doesn’t really affect reading comprehension.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#37

Post by perching_aix »

[deleted] wrote: post #32
perching_aix wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The well-known shadowy bias and conflict of interest of "I just enjoy experimenting with this new thing".

[deleted]

I do not think he's shilling; I think you misread the tone of my comment. Added an extra word now to maybe make the intent clearer.

That said, I do think "honeymoon phases" are a real source of bias. But then I don't think he's going through one of those either. He's been trying to leverage these models for a while now after all.

He might still be under a more general "tech adoption trend" bias, but at that point I'd say the lines become a bit blurry.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#38

Post by jebarker »

alansaber wrote: post #22

I always enjoy these "domain expert has fun using AI to do something in their domain" articles. But it's always a hobby project, never something serious.

What makes this a hobby project? He’s a university professor so developing teaching material is part of his job.

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#39

Post by dist-epoch »

luciana1u wrote: post #2

Terry Tao using coding agents to build apps means we're one step away from a Fields Medalist asking an LLM why his Docker container won't start, just like the rest of us.

I'm waiting for the reverse, coding agents asking Terry Tao if the proof they plan working on is worthy of a Fields Medal

Re: Old and new apps, via modern coding agents

#40

Post by recursivedoubts »

Building visualizations with LLMs has been a major boost for my CS classes:

https://htmx.org/essays/universities-and-ai/#demos-visualiza...

Many visualizations that I have always wanted but just didn't have the time to build, I now have.

To give an example, I wanted a simplified 8-bit computer to complement the 16-bit teaching computer I use and designed this in a few days with the help of claude:

https://bdp.cs.montana.edu/

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