45 pointsby rahen3 hours ago7 comments
  • d_burfoot3 minutes ago
    Tip for smart science-y young people: think about a career in experimental physics. Experimental data is the complement of theoretical power. Since theory can be provided cheaply by LLMs, experimental ability is now the bottleneck for progress in physics.

    I expect to see frontier labs or startups hiring experimentalists to provide data for LLMs to analyze, pushing towards breakthroughs in areas like room-temperature superconductors and fusion.

  • olirex995 minutes ago
    Seems like that anyone can now prove math conjecture. Maybe someone already prove some math problem and is not even aware of it.
  • beernet3 hours ago
    On the one-hand side, it's really impressive how LLMs drive mathematics forward, and this pace is only accelerating very quickly.

    At the same time, most of the proofs I've looked at appear super messy and chaotic to me (while still being correct of course, so it doesn't matter). LLMs do not care about "elegance" the way human beings do, which is a big advantage. LLMs for mathematics is such a great fit on many levels. Can't wait for a significant breakthrough, prove P=NP and all hell breaks loose.

    • hawtads8 minutes ago
      > LLMs do not care about "elegance" the way human beings do, which is a big advantage.

      It's just a matter of time before you can post train it for elegance too. Mathematical proofs in particular can be formally verified automatically which is a big advantage.

      • jmalicki2 minutes ago
        I've actually been involved in annotation projects doing RLHF to train LLMs to do exactly that. It's not a matter of time, it's already happening - it's just seemingly lower priority than "profitable" projects like post-training LLMs to replace white collar workers.
    • pdonis13 minutes ago
      > most of the proofs I've looked at appear super messy and chaotic to me (while still being correct of course, so it doesn't matter)

      How do you know they're correct if they're super messy and chaotic?

      • _jayhack_6 minutes ago
        formal verifiability e.g. vi Lean
      • KPGv211 minutes ago
        I've driven back roads in Ireland. Super messy and chaotic. I was still able to use a map to get to my destination.
    • dcsommer43 minutes ago
      Sure they care about elegance, or at least brevity. Minimizing tokens out, or generally "token efficiency," is part of the objective function for these systems. It doesn't mean they are perfect at it though.
      • Someone28 minutes ago
        > Minimizing tokens out, or generally "token efficiency," is part of the objective function for these systems.

        First time I heard that, and I doubt it. Don’t customers pay for output tokens? If so, why would a company specifically spend time training their LLM to generate fewer?

        • yreg20 minutes ago
          So they can charge more per token and decrease the pressure on their infra.
      • senorrib41 minutes ago
        You clearly haven't used Claude to generate code or documentation.
        • nelox36 minutes ago
          "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price" - S.R. Hadden
          • KPGv210 minutes ago
            Personally, I've found city roads to be more reliable than the private roads where I live.
  • JPLeRouzic15 minutes ago
    Please, what does that mean for Maxwell equations? For electromagnetism?

    (Wikipedia redirects Maxwell's conjecture to Maxwell equations).

    • gjskngnf4 minutes ago
      The Maxwell conjecture is a toy problem. The existence or nonexistence of a bound on the number of equilibrium points in an electrostatic arrangement of point charges doesn’t change much. I say that as an EE but not a specialist in electromagnetism.
    • pdonis10 minutes ago
      > what does that mean for Maxwell equations?

      Nothing. They're still just as valid as they were before.

      > For electromagnetism?

      In practical terms, nothing significant. It's not going to change how anyone builds devices that use electromagnetism.

  • amelius40 minutes ago
    Ok, who gets the credit?

    Does this work like a bug bounty program, where OpenAI pays you if you find a nice application for ChatGPT?

    • chorsestudios20 minutes ago
      No but the Clay Mathematics Institute will give you $1,000,000 if you solve one of the 6 remaining Millennium Prize Problems, and if you solve certain Erdos problems you can get $10-10,000.
      • echelon7 minutes ago
        Even if you use AI tools?
        • muglug5 minutes ago
          Yes. But you’ll spend more in tokens than you’ll get back from prize money.
  • josefritzishere40 minutes ago
    This is so inelegant I can't tell if it's accurate or not. ...On the other hand, I can't solve it myself.
  • jdc-pub3 hours ago
    Looks like the figures are cut off?
    • smallerize3 hours ago
      The experimental HTML view is messed up, but the actual PDF is fine.
    • 3 hours ago
      undefined