this mathematician won the 2026 Fields Medal, then stepped away from academia to join OpenAI’s safety team. what’s fascinating is how balanced his view is on AI. his story is WILD: >be Jacob Tsimerman >spend 13 years on a math problem >win the 2026 Fields Medal >an LLM finds a mistake in one of your proofs >you fix it, but the LLM couldn't >“I think my part is going to be very small” >realize where things are going >imagine AI solving decade-long math problems in weeks or even days >say mathematics will advance too fast for humans to keep up >AI will generate conjectures, prove theorems, and invent new definitions on its own >people argue humans will still be needed to develop new mathematical theories >“Why won't AIs be able to do this as well?” >point out that even your own theorems rely on accepted proofs you DON’T fully understand >say mathematics already relies on black boxes, and this will become much more common >“I'm definitely grieving” >stop taking traditional math PhD students >can't confidently recommend a career when you don't know what the field will look like in two years >say AI will become superhuman at doing mathematics >but worry about humans losing control >say society needs a Manhattan Project for AI safety >decide the most important problem isn't proving more theorems anymore >temporarily leave academia >join OpenAI's AI safety team he won the highest prize in math and is now making sure AI is on a leash.