{"id":95018,"date":"2026-07-04T10:52:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T10:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/95018\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T10:52:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T10:52:26","slug":"mathematicians-warn-about-the-dangers-of-ai-in-a-declaration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/95018\/","title":{"rendered":"Mathematicians warn about the dangers of AI in a declaration"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics\u2014as the declaration is formally known\u2014takes its name from a workshop held during a conference in Leiden in September.<\/p>\n

But the idea originated earlier, says Jim Portegies, assistant professor in TU\/e\u2019s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.\u201cIn a pub, during a conference in Cambridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathematicians Ursula Martin (Oxford), Michael Harris (Columbia), and Rodrigo Ochigame (Leiden) decided there to organize a workshop at the next conference where they would all meet\u2014in Leiden\u2014and work with the broader community to draft a document.<\/p>\n

In addition to mathematicians, computer scientists, philosophers, historians, and social scientists also attended the workshop in Leiden. \u201cAlthough opinions varied widely, everyone felt a sense of urgency about the topic,\u201d says Portegies, who was asked by the initiators to guide the drafting process of the Leiden Declaration.<\/p>\n

In that role, he focused on finding common ground. \u201cI tried to identify as much overlap as possible among the different viewpoints within the writing group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Declining autonomy<\/p>\n

And it turned out that those shared concerns were indeed there\u2014no fewer than five<\/a>. They include unreliable results, inadequate source attribution, a lack of transparency about methods, dependence on commercial AI, and the resulting increase in inequality among mathematicians. Researchers are also facing a loss of autonomy, as commercial interests gain greater influence over the scientific agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn top of these five threats, many mathematicians are suddenly finding themselves confronted with ethical questions because of AI,\u201d Portegies adds. \u201cTheir work can help improve AI models, but those models may then be used for warfare, to disrupt political systems, for mass surveillance … And they have an enormous environmental impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

A blessing<\/p>\n

Yet AI is solving mathematical problems that brilliant minds have struggled with for decades. Isn\u2019t AI actually a blessing for mathematics? \u201cFrom a scientific perspective, it is incredibly interesting that more and more mathematical problems can be solved using AI,\u201d Portegies acknowledges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, he adds: \u201cIt\u2019s important to put that into perspective: AI systems are very good at certain things within mathematics, such as solving problems by applying ideas from one area of the field to another. They have much more difficulty with other tasks though, such as developing new theories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if we look at how AI performs on non-mathematical problems, those limitations are even greater.\u201d Which is not the story AI companies tell, says Portegies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey like to suggest that if their model can solve mathematical problems, then it can solve everything, and that AGI (Artificial General Intelligence, ed.) is just around the corner. That\u2019s exaggerated and creates misplaced confidence in what AI is currently capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resonating<\/p>\n

What do the authors hope to achieve with the Leiden Declaration? \u201cWe encourage mathematicians, governments, and commercial actors alike to take action, in solidarity with other academic disciplines and societal institutions. Ultimately, this goes far beyond mathematics itself, and we will need to work together to ensure AI develops in a responsible direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe International Mathematical Union has endorsed the Declaration, and more than 1,500 scientists from around the world have signed it. The text appears to be resonating within the community, and we\u2019re seeing tremendous international support,\u201d Portegies concludes.<\/p>\n

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics\u2014as the declaration is formally known\u2014takes its name from a workshop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6744,24,3013,49694,49693,49691,49695,49697,49699,49692,3417,49698,27228,49696],"class_list":["post-95018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agi","tag-agi","tag-ai","tag-artificial-general-intelligence","tag-dangers","tag-declaration-leiden","tag-jim","tag-method","tag-michael_harris","tag-ochigame","tag-portegies","tag-risks","tag-rodrigo","tag-source","tag-ursula_martin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}