I say this as someone who uses LLMs in the physical sciences (one of the only areas where I would say it is ethical to use them).
I say this as someone who uses LLMs in the physical sciences (one of the only areas where I would say it is ethical to use them).
We still need math research just like we still coding or software or cpu research regardless of how many problems the AI solves.
To me it feels like a bio researcher complaining that his field has no future because AI started to cure diseases so now instead to spend 100 years to run experiments someone can do it in a day with AI(obviously it’s not the case yet).
Are they guys upset that people can “run math” without hiring a math guy?
I use coding as an example, I am glad I can ask AI agents to do all the boilerplate coding so that I can focus on building actual products rather than spending a month to get an API just right. It’s not like I am no longer thinking about the code or the end result. I do but only where it actually matters. Just punishing myself to not use AI would be like writing code with pen and paper. Some people enjoy it but that’s just a personal exercise not an industrial tool. I definitely enjoyed coding without IntelliSense and I think it made me a better programmer but definitely it’s not something I would recommend people to do on their day to day job.
I have difficulty figuring out how to solve this issue.
That being said, if whatever Astra is spitting is really innovative, the prompt author understands it, proof checks it and can support it in front of a live evaluator I think it’s good enough for me. In practice I think that prompt would be just one of many, perhaps also some “old school” evaluation and improvement before the thesis is done. Again, I see the AI as a tool.
You could ask Astra to generate you an e-commerce website with one prompt. Can you show it to someone and claim it as your project? Can you actually use that in production?
There was an intentional "marketing strategy" among scientists and such to convince young men to go into sciences rather than religious or nation state politics or just be bums fighting and drinking back in the day. They lifted heavily from the tone used by church and military recruiter propaganda
Different tone to the prose merely reflects the zeitgeist of the day. Should be seen as a tool like a wrench.