Terence Tao: rapid AI solutions to open problems threaten the tradition of open science
Mathematician Terence Tao warns that even a rumor of work on an open scientific problem now triggers a massive AI effort that outpaces the original research – he says this threatens to end the tradition of openly sharing scientific research directions.
In the quoted text (reproduced by commentator Simon Willison), mathematician Terence Tao describes how the collection of good, fruitful open scientific problems is now being “mined” in a nonrenewable way, which he says is leading to their gradual depletion.
Tao states that even a rumor that someone is working on a particular problem can now trigger a massive AI effort that solves the problem before the original research project has time to reach its full potential.
According to Tao, this changes what motivates scientists – incentives now push researchers to stop sharing promising research directions with the wider community. He says this would reverse a centuries-long tradition of open science and could seriously harm the field in the long term.
Why it matters
For the scientific community, this is a warning that quickly sharing ideas or partial results can now mean another team solves them first with the help of AI – according to Tao, this weakens the motivation for open collaboration and could lead to less openness in research in the future.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For individuals
Researchers could begin to hesitate to share promising lines of inquiry before completing the work themselves, because, according to Tao, even a rumor that someone is working on a problem can now trigger a massive AI effort that beats them to it.
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