Events and news relevant to the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science

[Paul Jackson <Paul.Jackson@ed.ac.uk>]

FYI

From: aiai-members <aiai-members-bounces@inf.ed.ac.uk> on behalf of Informatics Institute News via aiai-members <aiai-members@inf.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Monday, 5 January 2026 at 13:56
To: AIAI Members <aiai-members@inf.ed.ac.uk>, inf-seminars@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk <inf-seminars@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk>
Subject: [aiai-members] AIAI Seminar: Ursula Martin on "Will machines change pure mathematics?"

Hello all,

 

There will be an AIAI Seminar on Monday 19^th January at 14:00 in Informatics Forum G.03 by Ursula Martin.

 

 

14:00 Monday 19th January 2026

Informatics Forum room G.03

 

Title: Will machines change pure mathematics?

 

Speaker: Ursula Martin

https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/people/ursula.martin

 

Abstract:

Recent months have seen astonishing advances in the use of AI techniques in mathematical papers: “vibe coding” by non-experts to produce formal proofs in LEAN; expert human guidance of  LLMs produce credible, if derivative, research papers; specialist algorithms such as AlphaGeometry; and sophisticated use of machine learning to search for examples. 

 

Their development (at huge cost in compute power and energy) has been accompanied by an unfamiliar and exuberant level of hype from well-funded start-ups claiming to “solve mathematics” and the like. And it raises questions beyond the technical concerning governance, funding and the nature of the mathematical profession.

 

To try and understand what’s going on and where future challenges might lie, we look historical examples of changes in mathematical practice - as an example we consider key developments in the early days of computational group theory.

 

Best wishes

Jodie

 

Jodie Cameron

Institute Administrator

Room 1.33

University of Edinburgh, Informatics Forum

10 Crichton St | Edinburgh | EH8 9AB

( Available on Microsoft Teams or email to arrange a phone call

Working hours: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri – 09:00 – 17:00

 

 

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.


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