Johan Bernoulli Lezing - Johannes Schmitt, ETH Zürich

Title: Can Machines Do Mathematics?

Abstract:

When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it showed the world that computers can write poetry, generate images, and hold conversations, but in mathematics it still struggled with simple logic puzzles and long division. Three years later, the picture looks very different, with AIs winning gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad and mathematicians publishing papers that credit AI assistants with suggesting key ideas. What happened, and how impressed should we be? This lecture offers a guided tour through one of the fastest-moving stories in recent science. With concrete examples and historical anecdotes, we trace the path from early failures to recent breakthroughs, and examine what these systems can and cannot do. We encounter the "jagged frontier," where an AI contributes to decade-old research problems yet stumbles on questions a student could answer. We discuss how we are trying to measure AI progress in mathematics, and what the working mathematicians think about all this. The talk concludes with a look ahead: where might this lead, in five years or fifty? Drawing on hands-on experience testing and working with AI systems, this lecture aims to offer honest orientation in a fast-changing landscape.

Laudatio: Rineke Verbrugge (RUG)