Why I didn’t sign the Fields medallists’ letter

Mathematician Timothy Gowers argues that AI's main risk to mathematics may fall on the people and institutions that sustain it. Explaining why Gowers declined to sign a letter signed by 25 Fields medallists, the post disputes the letter's claim that problem-solving is only a tool and proxy for understanding: both are legitimate goals, and mathematicians differ in which motivates them. The concern is prospective. If machines become better problem-solvers, fewer students drawn by the prestige of solving famous problems may pursue PhDs, and policymakers may question funding for human mathematicians. The post's response is modest: supervisors should find imaginative work for students, and the community needs better ways to explain why a large pool of human mathematical expertise remains valuable.