--- title: There's never been a better time to go into math | daily.dev description: Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) argues that despite fears that AI will make mathematicians obsolete, math research remains valuable because applications stem... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: There's never been a better time to go into math | daily.dev og:description: Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) argues that despite fears that AI will make mathematicians obsolete, math research remains valuable because applications stem... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NgVsSjE9r.png og:image:alt: There's never been a better time to go into math og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # There's never been a better time to go into math **[3Blue1Brown](https://daily.dev/sources/3blue1brown)** · 40 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) argues that despite fears that AI will make mathematicians obsolete, math research remains valuable because applications stem mostly from theory-building rather than raw theorem-proving, and because the field delivers problem-solving skills and aesthetic joy that are unaffected by AI capability. He traces AI's progress on proving IMO-level problems and Erdős conjectures, suggests proof should be treated more like raw data than an end goal, predicts credit-assignment norms and oral presentation will matter more, and advises PhD students fearing the future to lean into theory-building, reject or embrace AI tools as fits their taste, and focus on what personally draws them to math. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Can AI models now solve IMO-level math olympiad problems? Yes, natural language models (not bespoke systems) can now solve International Mathematical Olympiad-level geometry and other contest problems by any reasonable definition of solving them. This marks a shift from 2023, when a DeepMind model solved Olympiad geometry questions but in a bespoke, brute-force way that didn't match the creative spirit of real problem-solving. _Developers tracking how fast AI reasoning models progress can follow frontier benchmark news on daily.dev._ ### What are Erdős problems and why do AI companies use them as benchmarks? Erdős problems are an enumerated set of open math conjectures posed by mathematician Paul Erdős, known for his sharp taste in identifying interesting questions. Model companies adopted them as benchmarks because the enumeration makes progress easy to measure, and increasingly serious, previously unsolved Erdős problems are now being proven by machine-generated proofs rather than just low-hanging fruit. _Anyone evaluating AI reasoning benchmarks beyond coding tasks can track these developments on daily.dev._ ### Should mathematicians still value formal proofs now that AI can generate them? Proof should be treated more like raw numerical data than the end goal of research, since AI-generated proofs are increasingly common but theory-building and genuine understanding remain what actually drive downstream applications like cryptography or quantum mechanics. The suggestion is to value the ideas and coherent theory that proofs feed into rather than the proof artifact itself. _Researchers rethinking how to credit AI-assisted work can follow this debate on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Mathematicians, Here’s a Way To Think About Your Existential Crisis](https://daily.dev/posts/mathematicians-here-s-a-way-to-think-about-your-existential-crisis-akc99ylpc) · Software Design: Tidy First? · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Schneier on Security](https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-io18bkk18) · Schneier on Security · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What’s the Future for Pure Math Research in the Age of AI?](https://daily.dev/posts/what-s-the-future-for-pure-math-research-in-the-age-of-ai--u8emkhuj2) · Stephen Wolfram Writings · 18 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[2607.06377\] Automation Without Understanding](https://daily.dev/posts/2607-06377-automation-without-understanding-gagloi3zz) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#math](https://daily.dev/tags/math) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"There's never been a better time to go into math","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r"},"datePublished":"2026-10-16T16:35:24.003Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T00:50:48.307Z","description":"Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) argues that despite fears that AI will make mathematicians obsolete, math research remains valuable because applications stem...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LKrwhjOI8Nc/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LKrwhjOI8Nc/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"3Blue1Brown","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"3Blue1Brown","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--rovuuMEM--/f_auto/v1713542252/logos/3blue1brown","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/3blue1brown"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"llm,career,math","timeRequired":"PT40M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"There's never been a better time to go into math","description":"Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) argues that despite fears that AI will make mathematicians obsolete, math research remains valuable because applications stem...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LKrwhjOI8Nc/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-10-16T16:35:24.003Z","duration":"PT40M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/NgVsSjE9r","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKrwhjOI8Nc"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3Blue1Brown","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/3blue1brown"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"There's never been a better time to go into math"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/there-s-never-been-a-better-time-to-go-into-math-ngvssje9r#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Can AI models now solve IMO-level math olympiad problems?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, natural language models (not bespoke systems) can now solve International Mathematical Olympiad-level geometry and other contest problems by any reasonable definition of solving them. 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