Altman Says Mathematicians Now Accept AI After Initial Backlash
OpenAI's CEO told a Stanford audience that early hostility from mathematicians gave way to seeing AI as a way to build research careers.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at a recent lecture at Stanford University that the mathematics community has moved from distrust and anger toward acceptance of artificial intelligence, according to digitaltoday.co.kr.
Altman described the shift in stages. On the first day, he said, mathematicians declared that mathematics was finished and advised graduate students to change majors. About three days later, he said, they pushed back, calling it terrible that OpenAI would do such a thing.
According to Altman, many mathematicians now regard AI as a way to build more research careers in new ways. He also said that AI's employment shock would not mean the end of jobs.
The remarks follow friction between OpenAI and parts of the research community. More than 700 scholars and students opposed the Mathathon, an AI mathematics challenge, and OpenAI withdrew its sponsorship; organizers revised the event's verification requirements, and it is scheduled for November.
In September 2026, OpenAI announced it had solved the existence and smoothness problem of the Navier-Stokes equations, and stated that it did not view the chat records of New York University and Anthropic researchers and that those records did not influence its model.
This month, after OpenAI announced it had solved more than 700 additional problems, UCLA mathematician Terence Tao said that mathematics' era of romanticism had ended.
Quick answers
What did Sam Altman say about mathematicians and AI?
He said the community moved from fear and anger to acceptance, with many now seeing AI as a way to build more research careers.
What happened with the Mathathon?
More than 700 scholars and students opposed it and OpenAI withdrew its sponsorship; organizers revised verification requirements and the event is scheduled for November.
What did Terence Tao say?
After OpenAI announced it had solved more than 700 additional problems this month, Tao said mathematics' era of romanticism had ended.