Comment by vkou

> and not exactly sure how merely the existence of a solution precludes the advancement of human knowledge.

You'd be more sure if you read the tweets.

Tao's point is very simple.

1. Working on problems that AI solvers can solve is a waste of human time.

2. We have no idea which problems can be solved by AI solvers...

3. ...Because the AI labs are keeping their negative results secret, and don't tell us which problems they've tried and failed to solve, and why they've failed to solve them (or succeeded at solving others).

There are additional points surrounding it, but that is the thrust of his argument. His issue is not the existence of AI, but the anti-scientific secrecy in how it is used to solve problems. All the incentives around its current use result in closed, uncollaborative work - which while very attractive to a vulture capitalist, is anathema to scientists.

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He also posits that having a solution to a problem is a small part of the value of solving a problem. What the AI labs are doing is the equivalent of a student turning in their homework, which has 100% of the right answers, but with none of the 'show your work' steps. Those steps are a critical artifact for doing mathematics, because the process of solving a difficult problem teaches us things about other problems.