Over 150 Mathematicians Sign "Leiden Declaration" Urging Governments to Ignore AI Math Hype

A group of more than 150 mathematics experts from around the world signed the Leiden Declaration on AI and Mathematics, warning governments not to "believe the hype" about AI's ability to solve complex mathematical problems. The declaration calls out the "strong commercial incentive on the part of the technology industry to overstate the capabilities of their products" and advises policymakers to consult actual mathematicians rather than press releases. The timing is pointed: OpenAI had recently boasted that its AI "autonomously solved a prominent open problem central to a field of mathematics" — a claim the signatories treat with considerable skepticism.

The declaration doesn't stop at hype. It flags that current AI models "can produce plausible but unreliable (or even incorrect) arguments which are difficult to distinguish from correct mathematical proofs" — a problem with compounding consequences, since mathematics builds on itself. It also raises concerns about academic coercion (underfunded researchers pressured to endorse AI), military and surveillance applications, environmental costs, and the use of mathematicians' published work to train AI models "without their consent." In short: a sweeping, credentialed rebuke from the people whose field is being used as the marquee proof-of-concept.