If AI invents mathematics, our species will be in danger: Talagrand

When the magazine of the Mathematical Society of France asked Michel Talagrand, in 2019, about the advances of artificial intelligence (AI) –recalling that three years earlier Google’s AlphaGo program had defeated the human champion of the board game go–, answered: My first impression is that there is a big difference between strategy games like Go, with considerable but finite complexity, and in which computers now surpass the capabilities of the best human minds. and mathematical research, that seems to evolve in a space of infinite dimensions.

He added: Who can know today if artificial intelligence will one day be able to invent authentic mathematics? I fear that if that happens, our species will truly be in danger..

Yesterday the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters awarded Talagrand the prestigious Abel Prize, the highest international award in the field of mathematics. During the announcement, the contributions of the French researcher in various areas of the discipline were highlighted, who has left an indelible mark on the theory of probability, measurement and computational complexity throughout his career.

His contributions have been fundamental in fields such as measurement concentration theory, isoperimetry inequality, and information theory, among others.

The Abel Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Mathematics, is awarded each year by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Talagrand has also been awarded other awards, such as the Loève from the American Mathematical Society, in 1990, for his outstanding contributions to probability theory and related areas, as well as the Shaw, awarded in Hong Kong in 2019.

Born in the south of France in 1952, the mathematician grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Lyon. His fascination with science began when he was seven years old, inspired by a science magazine to which his family subscribed. At age 15, a retinal detachment landed him in the hospital. During his convalescence, his father entertained him by teaching him mathematics, an experience that led him to understand the power of abstraction and cultivate his passion for the discipline.

After that period in the hospital, he returned to school and became the best student in his math and physics classes.

I started to really try hard: to train I tried to solve every problem in the textbook. In my last year of high school, I placed third nationally in both mathematics and physics at the Concours Général, a French Olympiad for the best high school students.recalled the academic.

Due to his health problems, he continued his high school studies in Lyon and attended the local university. It was at this stage that a professor, Jean Braconnier, encouraged him to apply for a job at the National Center for Scientific Research. Talagrand admits that this opportunity set him on the path to his career as a mathematician, giving him the freedom to work on his own terms.

In 1981 he married his colleague Wansoon Rhee, who He understood from the beginning how important mathematics is to me, and did everything he could to protect my work time. She has been the perfect partner in my life and work..

About his style of studying mathematics, Talagrand has said that he learned mainly thinking about research problems introduced by others, until I was able to develop my own ideas.

Regarding how he approaches problems, he says that he does not have a magic recipe, but a strategy consists of studying special situations, or should I be afraid to start by fully understanding almost trivial casesand then try to identify other problems that might be easier, but where the difficulty should be of a similar nature.

For the mathematician, Patience and technique are essential in mathematics, in the same way that mountaineers cannot reach the top of a mountain without ropes or brakes..

Talagrand is the fifth Frenchman to win the award since its founding in 2003. After thanking him for the award, he announced that he will dedicate the more than 721 thousand dollars he will receive, plus the money from the Shaw Prize, to create a new award in his favorite areas of mathematicswhich are the concentration of the measure, the spin glass and the supreme of the stochastic processes.

The award will be presented to him on May 21 at the University of Oslo.