Math Underinvestment Hinders AI Progress

What happened

The article highlights a current underinvestment in foundational mathematics, which risks impeding artificial intelligence (AI) advancement despite AI's reliance on mathematical principles for algorithm tuning, computing power, and data processing. Harmonic, an AI company established in 2023, is developing Mathematical Superintelligence (MSI), a new AI generation rooted in mathematics, designed to guarantee accuracy and eliminate hallucinations. Concurrently, the US government plans to expand AI utilisation within US science to enhance research productivity.

Why it matters

The identified underinvestment in foundational mathematics introduces a significant operational constraint on AI development, increasing exposure to systems with inherent accuracy limitations and potential for hallucinations. This raises due diligence requirements for R&D and procurement teams evaluating AI solutions, as the mathematical robustness of algorithms becomes a critical, less visible factor. The burden falls on AI development teams to ensure algorithmic integrity and on risk management to assess the reliability of AI outputs, particularly given the emergence of solutions like MSI promising guaranteed accuracy.