“Why would you pursue a PhD in maths when AI is going to replace you?” Let’s talk about it.

My reply: Do a PhD in mathematics and use AI to go further in three years or squeeze the works in only one year.

Your answer is: because it's fun. But people pursue those because it is a way to be more valuable in the market place, so I find your answer lacking. My answer would be that Math is, on most measures, infinite, so there're always stuff to find out. What humans can do is direct it. AI will allow PhDs to iterate faster. Instead of spending a decade trying to know if some weird idea is right or wrong and having to gather funds and a team to work on it, you could just point the AI to it and see if it pans out in a couple of hours. That initial direction is still yours to claim! I find that incredibly exciting!

math wont disappear its just gonna change

The problem is that nobody pay you to walk slowly from A to B, after cars are invented

There is a recent paper written by Vishal Sikka tittled "Hallucination Stations On Some Basic Limitations of Transformer-Based Language Models". Where he shows that LLMs are incapable of carrying out computational and agentic tasks beyond a certain complexity-using mathemetics.

Because I want to and I'm accomplished by doing so and I will the best auditor of maths presented to us by AI and finally I will be best placed to prompt AI to solve mathematical problems.

We know 1) most theorems of length N have shortest proof at least double exponential in N, and 2) some of these are true but have no proof at all. The point is, there will always be unsolved problems, and the time humans spend working on them is always worth the ascent.

Ai can be a tool for mathematicians, idk why they forget that accountants used calculator and didn't got replaced by it, and whatever what Ai can do, it can only solve a problem and give a solution, it can't discover new things while giving the result

AI is making answers cheap. Knowing which questions are worth asking, and catching a confident answer that's wrong, is exactly what a maths PhD trains.

I didn't pursue any degree and I've still been able to get a job as a developer. I think it's going to come down to what the degree is for and how much fear a person has because the job market is not the same as it used to be

There is also another element too it, sure a calculator can work 4 x 8... but as human you have to understand the concept of multiplication in order to use the tool

Your analogy to walking makes no sense. You're not getting paid to walk. Why would anyone pay you to do math if they can pay 1/100th of that for AI and get their results 100x faster?

Im not good at math but I have great ideas thats where ai comes in for me but I think people that are blessed with math enjoy it i think id like to see them work together thats where the real magic will happen

Also people vastly under and overestimate AI at the same time. We dont know where it will lead

Am I right that you are doing a PhD in theoretical astrophyics or a similar field, therefore using maths as a tool, rather than a PhD in maths? probably not a significant distinction with regards to the impact of AI in a year or so, but right now it matters.

yes it will, it's obvious

👏 Awesome 👌

So TRUE ! And well said ! A world where everyone could pursue their interest not for "status over others" or financial reward but purely for their enjoyment in the process and their output ! Surely it would not be that bad !

All PhDs after 2026 are worthless. Everyone will just assume your thesis was vibe-coded. Good luck!

Why are people asking such questions

That means it's closer to music than to engineering now.

She wants to do PHD only to be an influencer and get views and attention.

Every serious problem that's sponsored, is always looking for how to get from A to B the fastest way possible. And you are a human regardless how how much you love science you need to earn, the desire of dreams ruqire money, and that ruqires sponsors.

Someone still needs to understand what AI is doing. The human knowledge is still needed.

It's scary, but until ai embodies itself, I think we will still be around

whats your answer to that question

Great!

Ur probably doing a phd just to get free funding. U also should treat math as fine art hippy dippy major like wth? Maybe APPLY ur math somewhere? If u can’t apply maths, that ur/skill problem

This is a very humanizing message Ellie, love it 👏

Okay, I wasn't expecting that kind of blabla. I thought it would get a little more specific about why mathematical research remains important. But after watching that clip, it really does seem like it's all over for mathematicians who are some kind of artists now wtf

Just follow your passion.

Depends who is asking. Usually the side selling the tool.

Nice reply ✅❤️👍💯

Suppose keeps mind active.

Mathematics is almost infinite; there will always be Maths in the world. Who is going to proofread solutions generated by AI, peer reviews are important. PHD in math will always be relevant, many job opportunities. AI works on algorithms, who is going to create new algorithms.☮️