Tim Moy

LMS Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

Sam Altman on existential risk: he hopes hypothetical better AI models are CANNOT be so efficient as to not require large computing power. Under-the-radar uses of powerful models could intentionally cause harm. A high threshold of computing power means accountability, he suggests

[doomslide @doomslide]

"
Thus it will be readily understood that, in order to demonstrate a theorem, it is not necessary nor even useful to know what it means. We might replace geometry by the reasoning piano imagined by Stanley Jevons; or, if we prefer, we might imagine a machine where we should put in axioms at one end and take take out theorems at the other, like that legendary machine in Chicago machine where pigs go in alive and come out transformed into hams and sausages. It is no more necassary for the mathematician than it is for these machines to know what he is doing.
"

––– Henri Poincaré, Science and Method (1908)

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

Great day at @london_inst with my colleague Justin Tan pondering the future of mathematics. Featuring an erudite talk by fellow Australian Geordie Williamson and excellent interviewing by @Ananyo

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

@mahdi_tcs_ Who formulated the Langlands conjecture, and why?

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

@GuyJBaldwin I was there two weeks ago! What an amazing city

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

@evzen_wy The unanimous gushing reaction to a long, fairly technical essay within minutes was very strange to say the least. Not to diminish the content, but something didn’t sit right with me.

[David Bessis @davidbessis]

10 remarks on AI and math that can be true all at once:
1. The recent progress is stunning and exciting.
2. The Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis is arguably Fields-medal level.
3. Mathematics is being transformed and there is no way back.
4. OpenAI doesn't give a fuck about the future of mathematics.
5. Half-baked unreadable preprints claiming major results can effectively stall mathematical progress.
6. Some mathematicians are responding with naive, overly defensive comments.
7. The social-media wankers framing this as "OpenAI tramples gatekeeping" have no experience of mathematical research.
8. The product of mathematics is clarity and understanding. Not theorems, by themselves.
9. Mathematics is a critical infrastructure of human cognition. The human need for understanding isn't obsolete and it can't be offloaded to machines.
10. We haven't "solved" mathematics and we won't get there before the Sun burns out.

[Akshat @star_stufff]

Alain Connes' take on AI for mathematics.

[James Rosen-Birch ⚖️🕊️ @provisionalidea]

I've been struck by how many people's idea of "progress" the past few days essentially amounts to,

'the more statements are in a database, the more Humanity has moved forward, independent of whether or not they've been independently validated, verified, seen, or understood by anyone. as long as they exist, marked down, somewhere, that's progress."

which is a really weird idea.

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

I can’t stress enough that this would mean the complete extinction of human culture. You need art because it connects you to all who’ve gone before you; it challenges you to embrace perspectives not your own. Media generated to your exact preferences is the death of the soul.

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

THE REAL IMPLICATION OF THE AI MATH BREAKTHROUGHS

I wrote about an element of AI that needs to get more discussion. The best public models will always be far behind what the labs can work with internally.

Think about what this means for intelligence-intensive industries.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Intelligence must draw on memory. The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences. Everything that is good begins “with the Spirit” and thus possesses a breath, a dynamism and a sense of communion that, once experienced, are engraved upon the heart. https://t.co/Ij21tkb3qT

[Thomas Bloom @thomasfbloom]

@sytelus I disagree; my belief is that Erdős would have been dismayed, like many others now, at the diminished role of humans in research.

For Erdős mathematics was a human activity, and he spent his long life constantly travelling and talking to others, not doing maths in isolation.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In an age dominated by technology, in which efficiency and profit often take precedence, it is so important that we continue to cultivate a spirit of contemplation and allow time and space for beauty. Such an attitude will greatly help humanity, especially young people, to discover the ability of art to uplift and reveal the depths of the human spirit and our openness to the divine. Contemplation presents a marvelous opportunity to encounter the God who is Beauty.

[Endings FourHundredAndNinetySeven @Endings500]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 6th, 2026

OpenAI Releases the Final Ten Minutes of 500 Previously Unreleased Films, Ushering in a New Era of Movie Watching

[Leigh Phillips @Leigh_Phillips]

Say what you will about 19th Century robber barons, but they at least built libraries, founded universities and eradicated hookworm.

Today, the richest man ever to live is rooting for the imminent end of humanity.

[Gregory Conti @GregoryConti19]

This is one of the worst parts of our present moment: living a free, self-directed life according to one's best-laid plans has been rendered impossible due to the uncertainty that AI brings.

[VANITY FAIR @VanityFair]

Mark Guiducci: “Do you know who Laura Reiley is?”

Sam Altman: “I don't.”

Mark Guiducci: “She is a journalist. She wrote an essay in the ‘Times’ last year. Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself—”

OpenAI Publicist: “Mark, We have two minutes left. I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on and talk a little bit about the future and what’s coming.”

Watch the two-part interview: https://t.co/EEwVX703nr

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Pope Leo is right.

Art is not some kind of superfluous luxury that can be eliminated from our lives. It is a crucial part of the human experience.

We cannot let Big Tech oligarchs destroy it.

[Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 @PollTracker2024]

#MichiganSenate

NYP: Abdul El-Sayed farts in public according to a former aide

https://t.co/WRSASWGvdO

[Tim Moy @timjmoy]

At Cambridge until next month everyone has been paying out of pocket or was given a sub

[David Pfau @pfau]

An academic colleague just told me his students aren't using LLMs because he can't afford even the low tier monthly subscription for everyone. I'm not sure the folks making $Xm/yr at frontier labs understand just how much of a bubble they're in.