Notices of the American Mathematical Society
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With support from AMS membership, we are pleased to share the journal with the global mathematical community.
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Photo courtesy of Macalester College/David Turner.
By the mid-twentieth century, researchers—including mathematicians—were exploring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. But it wasn’t until OpenAI’s late 2022 public launch of ChatGPT that widespread public engagement really ramped up. Over the past year, teens have gone wild creating fun images using DALL·E, and professionals across many fields have been engaging AI in their work.
Mathematicians are thinking about many facets of AI. We talk about mathematics’ role in pushing innovation in AI, how AI can be used to advance mathematical research, and appropriate uses in our classrooms to enhance learning, and we consider the ethics involved with publishing articles and books that have used AI in some capacity. We also consider our responsibility to others, as publicly accessible AI develops and is regulated.
Congress
It is honestly hard to keep up with all the hearings in Congress about AI. Congressional committees usually post announcements of these hearings only days in advance. And on this particular topic, many different committees are holding hearings including the Senate Judiciary Committee; the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs; the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee; and the House Armed Services Committee. During these hearings members of Congress voice their concerns on a very broad range of topics—from how our own as well as our adversaries’ defense and intelligence communities use AI; to providing funding and identifying priorities for AI researchers; to applications in agriculture, climate change, manufacturing, and supply chains; to how our creativity enterprise (music and film industries especially) is threatened.
Senate Leader Schumer has held educational “senator only” sessions about artificial intelligence, which have offered a general overview of AI and its current capabilities, an examination of the research frontiers, and thoughts about how we can maintain American leadership as AI develops. These were held privately so that the senators could ask questions freely, genuinely learn, and avoid political grandstanding.Footnote1
It is also hard to keep up with all of the bills being introduced. These include the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2023 (CREATE AI Act), which would establish “the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) as a shared national research infrastructure that provides AI researchers and students with greater access to the complex resources, data, and tools needed to develop safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence.”Footnote2 Other bills introduced focus on everything from building an AI workforce, to ensuring that human control must always be used to launch nuclear weapons, to regulating how AI is used in political campaigning.
The White House
The White House is also devoting attention to AI and here, as with Congress, it is a developing and moving target. In July, the White House announced a voluntary commitment by major AI companies to help ensure responsible innovation of secure systems that address societal challenges.Footnote3
The Biden–Harris administration has also issued a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights,Footnote4 and a National AI Research and Development Strategic Plan.Footnote5 Additionally, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has launched a working group on generative AI, co-led by mathematician Terence Tao.
The NSF
Because the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds mathematics research at a higher level than any other federal agency, it is worth noting that the NSF is investing heavily in AI.Footnote6 Many Notices readers will know a lot about this already, through their own research awards and through activities at the NSF-funded Mathematical Sciences Institutes.Footnote7 The NSF also has launched National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes across the country which cover a very broad range of topics. One in Pennsylvania focuses on AI-enabled materials. An Oklahoma-based institute brings together a cross-disciplinary team to address pressing environmental concerns. A team in Texas is developing foundational tools. Others focus on rural health, law and decision-making, and construction of and operation of buildings.
Other federal agencies are also investing heavily in AI including, for example, NIST: https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence
The National Academies
While the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are not government entities, they do provide expertise to federal agencies. In July, NASEM’s Board on Mathematical Sciences and Analytics held a well-attended workshop on AI to Assist Mathematical Reasoning.Footnote8 This workshop was virtual and open to the public; through their websiteFootnote9 you can listen to that workshop, watch for future activities, and sign up for their email newsletter.
The AMS
Scientific societies such as the AMS are contemplating what AI means for their members as researchers, students, professors, and creators of copyrighted and patented materials.
In July, AMS President Bryna Kra formed the Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence and the Mathematical Community.Footnote10 According to its charge, “(t)he advisory group will focus on issues that are at the forefront of these developments, including: the role of mathematics in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence, the impact of artificial intelligence on research in mathematics, the use of AI in publications, education, and research, and the impact of AI on our community.”
You may know that the AMS sponsors one Congressional Fellow each year.Footnote11 Fellows work for one year in a Senate or House office, and lend their expertise in various ways—by preparing for hearings, crafting legislation, and meeting with constituents. The AMS Congressional Fellowship is in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the current cohort of AAAS fellows (and most likely those for the next few years) includes several chosen for their AI expertise. These fellows have a unique opportunity to help shape our nation’s AI policies.
JMM 2024
The three AMS Colloquium Lectures on Machine Assisted Proof will be given by Terence Tao (UCLA and PCAST).
The AMS Committee on Science PolicyFootnote12 is organizing a panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence in Mathematics, Science, and Society. The organizers are Gunnar Carlsson, Stanford University (chair); Duane Cooper, Morehouse College; Carla Cotwright-Williams, US Dept. of Defense (and 2012–2013 AMS Congressional Fellow); Fern Hunt, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); and Jerry McNerney, US House of Representatives, retired.
And, of course, our partner societies are also engaged on the topic. The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is running two AI-relevant JMM sessions—one is the SIAM ED Session on Artificial Intelligence and its Uses in Mathematical Education, Research, and Automation in the Industry; the other is the SIAM Minisymposium on Scientific Machine Learning to Advance Modeling and Decision Support.