John Faig

This is honestly shocking. Three months ago, Hong Wang was awarded the Fields Medal for resolving the Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions. Today, OpenAI released a proposed proof of the conjecture in ALL dimensions. And that’s not all. It also announced a proposed existence proof for quantum chromodynamics and a proposed refutation of the Exponential Time Hypothesis. Experts say that, if confirmed, these would be Nobel prize and Turing award level discoveries respectively. A journalist just asked me: “What remains for humans to do?” I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that more and more problem solving will be automated. But humans will remain crucial in determining the direction of discovery. Deciding which problems are worth solving. Because the value of a discovery depends on our needs, our priorities and the kind of world we want to build. There will be a shift from problem solving to problem setting. I also think there will be huge individual differences. People with strong critical thinking skills, creativity and imagination will be supercharged by AI. People without those skills risk surrendering to it. I’m particularly concerned for children, who may never develop these skills. I think epistemic literacy - how to distinguish information from knowledge - is the single most important skill we should be teaching.