PLUS: A startup lets you freeze your eggs for free—but there's a catch.
The math world was rocked by OpenAI's news it had solved the Navier-Stokes equation—and accusations it had improperly used a human mathematician's work.
What is clear is that AI's influence on math is here to stay, and it has those working in the field facing existential questions about their work.
Mathematicians have always relied on technology, from abacuses to pen and paper to computers, to help solve problems. But their work has fundamentally relied on the human mind each step of the way. While AI has of course been trained on the corpus of human knowledge, agents are using that knowledge more independently than ever before.
WIRED's Isabella Ward spoke with Steven Strogratz, a Cornell mathematician who has coauthored a forthcoming book about how math is slipping away from human understanding that will be out in November. Talk about a timely release.
“I think the year 2026 is going to be remembered as either an annus mirabilis or annus horribilis for mathematics because so much has happened,” Strogatz tells WIRED, sitting in front of a wall covered in framed university honors. “You will not be able to compete without AI in the future if you want to do breakthrough math,” he adds.
I can't recommend reading the interview in full enough if you want to understand the upheaval facing math now—and what the future may hold for your own profession.
Also on my radar? A startup that lets you freeze your eggs for free. But there's a catch, because there's always a catch. You can read our investigation.
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By Will Knight and Maxwell Zeff
A landmark announcement by the frontier AI lab has been overshadowed by accusations of impropriety.
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By Isabella Ward
Steven Strogatz coauthored a book about how math is moving beyond human understanding. He spoke with WIRED about the seismic impact artificial intelligence has had on his life’s work.
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By Maia Hibbett
Cofertility manages the costs of egg freezing and storage, in exchange for half the batch. One young client became suspicious of the arrangement—and started to investigate.
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By Sophie Hurwitz
And if your tap water is undrinkable, you have no “constitutional right to truthful information” about it.
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By Molly Taft
Silicon Valley is shifting away from chatbot queries toward a future filled with resource-intensive agentic AI—and it's driving the data center buildout.
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By Ej Dickson
Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.
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