Artificial Intelligence and the Structure of Mathematics
Organizations: Meta Superintelligence Labs, Fundamental AI Research · Department of Physics and Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, College Park · Center for Mathematical Sciences and Applications, Harvard University · Logical Intelligence
Abstract
Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) is unlocking transformative capabilities for mathematics. There is great hope that AI will help solve major open problems and autonomously discover new mathematical concepts. In this essay, we further consider how AI may open a grand perspective on mathematics by forging a new route, complementary to mathematicallogic, to understanding the global structure of formal proof****s. We begin by providing a sketch of the formal structure of mathematics in terms of universal proof and structural hypergraphs and discuss questions this raises about the foundational structure of mathematics. We then outline the main ingredients and provide a set of criteria to be satisfied for AI models capable of automated mathematical discovery. As we send AI agents to traverse Platonic mathematical worlds, we expect they will teach us about the nature of mathematics: both as a whole, and the small ribbons conducive to human understanding. Perhaps they will shed light on the old question: "Is mathematics discovered or invented?" Can we grok the terrain of these Platonic worlds?
Figures & tables
| Criterion | Minimo | Lilo / Stitch | Fermat | Graffiti | AlphaEvolve |
| Cl / Ge / GPT | Cl / Ge / GPT | Cl / Ge / GPT | Cl / Ge / GPT | Cl / Ge / GPT | |
| C1: Open-ended language | ✓ ✓ ~ | ~ ✗ ✗ | ~ ✓ ~ | ~ ✗ ✗ | ~ ✗ ~ |
| C2: Verifiable proofs | ✓ ✓ ✓ | ✗ ✗ ✗ | ✓ ✓ ~ | ✗ ✗ ✗ | ~ ✗ ~ |
| C3: Novelty detection | ✓ ✓ ~ | ~ ✗ ✗ | ~ ~ ~ | ✓ ✗ ~ | ✓ ✗ ~ |
| C4: Proposes & proves | ✓ ✓ ✓ | ✗ ✗ ✗ | ✓ ✓ ~ | ~ ~ ✗ | ~ ~ ~ |
| C5: New definitions | ✗ ✗ ✗ | ✓ ✓ ~ | ✓ ✓ ✓ | ✗ ✓ ✗ | ✗ ✓ ~ |
Appendix figures & tables1 asset
Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.