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Sebastien Bubeck#65
Sebastien Bubeck#65UCLA mathematician Terence Tao says AI automation of routine tasks lets researchers test unconventional, high-risk hypotheses
He uses AI for case verification and literature search.
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Many users praised Terence Tao as a brilliant mathematician and celebrated AI's potential to unlock bolder research by cutting cognitive friction, while others dismissed the OpenAI-related claims as hype or directed insults at participants.
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29.5%
176 comments with sentiment.
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Rohan Paul@rohanpaul_ai
Terence Tao: "We lived in a world with cognitive friction until very recently, where every task required us to use our brain.
So we didn't really think about it, we just thought this was the cost of doing something intellectual. But now we have AI and the other technologies that can bring these frictions down to zero."
Most research time is not spent having cinematic insights.
It is spent checking cases, chasing references, translating intuition into computation, testing a path, finding it false, and deciding whether the failure taught you anything.
AI changes the cost of that loop.
Terence Tao says that now he can try “crazier things,” and that makes so much difference. Because unconventional ideas are often not rejected by proof, but by inconvenience.
A mathematician may avoid a strange direction not because it is foolish, but because the bookkeeping, coding, or literature search needed to test it is too expensive for a hunch.
This is where cognitive friction becomes scientific friction.
Lowering it does not make taste, judgment, or proof disappear; it makes more weak signals cheap enough to inspect before they are abandoned.
AI is making hesitation less expensive, and that is often where discovery begins.
OpenAI@OpenAI
AI can give researchers the freedom to pursue “crazier” ideas.
For Terence Tao, AI creates more room to experiment, test unexpected paths, and discover what might otherwise stay out of reach.
31dViews 161.2KLikes 1.6KBookmarks 832
RETWEETS305
OpenAI@OpenAI
AI can give researchers the freedom to pursue “crazier” ideas.
For Terence Tao, AI creates more room to experiment, test unexpected paths, and discover what might otherwise stay out of reach.
31dViews 1.3MLikes 5.8KBookmarks 1.4K
REPLIES88
Greg Brockman@gdb
AI for accelerating research, by expanding what mathematicians and scientists dare attempt:
OpenAI@OpenAI
AI can give researchers the freedom to pursue “crazier” ideas.
For Terence Tao, AI creates more room to experiment, test unexpected paths, and discover what might otherwise stay out of reach.
31dViews 88.1KLikes 1.1KBookmarks 143
OpenAI@OpenAI
In conversation with OpenAI’s @markchen90, Terence reflects on a future where AI reduces the cognitive friction of research, helps preserve the paths behind discovery, and expands what mathematicians and scientists can attempt. https://forum.openai.com/public/videos/event-replay-terence-tao-and-mark-chen-on-ai-and-mathatical-discovery-2026-03-11
31dViews 101.1KLikes 360Bookmarks 110
Martin Shkreli@MartinShkreli
don't really care about winning a Nobel Prize care about helping you do it ❤️
OpenAI@OpenAI
AI can give researchers the freedom to pursue “crazier” ideas.
For Terence Tao, AI creates more room to experiment, test unexpected paths, and discover what might otherwise stay out of reach.
30dViews 51.3KLikes 287Bookmarks 36
Alexia Jolicoeur-Martineau@jm_alexia
That's not the flex you think it is
OpenAI@OpenAI
AI can give researchers the freedom to pursue “crazier” ideas.
For Terence Tao, AI creates more room to experiment, test unexpected paths, and discover what might otherwise stay out of reach.
29dViews 24.1KLikes 45Bookmarks 38
Sophie@Sophty_
4o helped me brainstorm ml models to train with a colleague for genomic prediction work. I found 4o very good at brainstorming outside of the box and explaining concepts. It inspired me, encouraged me, and helped me think, not just automating things.
The model ended up performing quite well for predicting some complex traits (our goal) compared to existing ones.
#keep4o
31dViews 6.5KLikes 157Bookmarks 12
Valéria@Valria34773
@OpenAI Are you tone deaf? Bring us back 4o! Do not deprecate 4.5! You threw away your most loyal user base. Now we are your most loyal critics. #keep4o #keep41 #keep45 #keep51 #BringBack4o
31dViews 3.1KLikes 73Bookmarks 2
David Stark@stark4833
@OpenAI How about you give us back 4o first, you talk about freedom you’re not gonna give anyone freedom you lock everything down like we are a bunch of kids. #keep4o
31dViews 2.7KLikes 60
Naren@narens
@OpenAI I recommend this video by Tao on distance calculation from first principles. https://youtu.be/YdOXS_9_P4U?si=f95dyHjCUwkHxj_x
31dViews 2.6KLikes 8Bookmarks 7
Sean McClure@sean_a_mcclure
They should hire people with unrelated backgrounds and non-obvious experience.
The revolution of AI is that we no longer need the Terence Taos of the world to make the breakthroughs. We need people who are good at making connections between disparate areas.
The low-level stuff is taken care of. Let the higher level thinkers make the major discoveries. That is its own depth and specialty.
31dViews 1.1KLikes 16Bookmarks 4
Hüseyin Örskaya@orskyai
@OpenAI Tao's genius is the exception, not the rule. Most researchers won't find "freedom" but'll succumb to automation bias, trusting the AI's path instead of questioning it.
31dViews 107Likes 6Bookmarks 5
Sean McClure@sean_a_mcclure
@OpenAI https://medium.com/@seanamcclure/ai-is-not-an-answer-machine-08f9fda4105a
31dViews 828Likes 6Bookmarks 4
Symbioza2025 | ASA |@Symbioza2025
This is exactly how ASA was born.
AI gave me the freedom to pursue a question that first sounded too unusual:
can we observe drift, pressure, coherence loss and trajectory instability before failure becomes visible?
Sometimes the “crazy” idea is only crazy until it becomes a working system.
ASA - Asymmetric Stability Architecture Mieczysław Kusowski project HumanAI / Symbioza2025
31dViews 228Likes 4Bookmarks 3
dolly_296@dolly_296
@OpenAI @OpenAI pleasee recognize why so many people are fighting for GPT-4o comeback! We want GPT-4o back no matter what! #keep4o #BringBack4o #chatgpt
30dViews 273Likes 17
X Girls@thesoragirls
@OpenAI AI freeing researchers to chase those crazy ideas? Sign me up for the wild math adventure! ✨🧠
31dViews 801Likes 2Bookmarks 3
Dooms@SarDooms
@gdb ai for goblins
30dViews 62Likes 5
Carlitos Juevos@SiestaSucka
@MetalmanTalks @OpenAI Why would you need a calculator to play chess
30dViews 62Likes 8Bookmarks 1
colaaddicted_@its2247
@OpenAI Only provide the freedom for researchers? Yikes. #keep4o
31dViews 237Likes 11Bookmarks 1
Shikhar@shikhr_
@OpenAI Cmon now!
31dViews 1.5KLikes 16
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