It’s endlessly fascinating to read the AI transcript of an expert who _really_ knows how to cut to the chase. It just shows how much you can potentially squeeze out of these models. I’m also surprised to see that even Terrence Tao seems to use it in a way that resembles, in progression, how I use llms in my area of expertise (emphasis on progression and usage patterns, not absolute skill, obv I don’t match that): short pointed questions that goes all in on the jargon and machinery of the field and steers the llm hard (eg no softballs). I’ve noticed that llms switch their tone and meet you basically more or less on your level.
"I’ve activated Pro. Can you continue to look for a potential geometric explanation of the X_3 ~ A3 miracle that avoids coordinates or other unmotivated constructions ?"
Another satisfied customer!
That's a clear example why we still need human expertise. I cannot even ask the first question :(
Similar to how Cypher puts it: I know this is “just” next token inference, matrix mult and just software, ie there’s no “intelligence” there BUT, looking at this convo … damn!
The fascinating this is that the LLM is not acting as a tool here AFAIk, but very much like a colleague.
I have no knowledge of the domain and have only PhD EE level math knowledge, so maybe my bar is too low.
Parent HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48998362
It's fun if you ask ChatGPT to guess the identity of its interlocutor :) It will guess math researcher or paper author without hints, but if you give it some additional hints, "this was shared over the internet", "it's someone willing to work with AI", it will guess Terence Tao as the first choice.
It's awesome to publish this kind of thing - great PR at least. Even if you don't understand the details, it's interesting to be able to peek into a technical conversation that a world class mathematician is having about their work with a "colleague". It's also the clearest demonstration I've seen of the vision AI people have about a future with truly intelligent copilots in super technical fields.
Maybe it's silly, but from someone who is ignorant on this topics, what are the consequences of this kind of "discoveries"?
Is it something "revolutionary" or just another small brick that will pile up until something really "revolutionary" will happen?
"Hey Fable, please generate me the next 1000 undiscovered bitcoin hashes"
Anybody have a cache/mirror of this? This is blocked by a corporate firewall... sigh
It also reinforces how to "learn AI" is to first master the problem domain.
I can use AI for coding after decades of coding. I can't use it for theoretical physics because I can't evaluate the responses.