brian-bfz

We are giving each team $20k AI credits. I hope they will use it to solve problems beyond the reach of regular AI plans.

You're right that we can't. We'll be responsible in our press releases and award prizes based on explanation, but we don't control the headlines. However, this is already an improvement over the current state, where results are announced by headlines alone.

Solving a problem is the easy part with AI. Selecting a problem worth solving is half of the challenge.

We allow prior work as long as it's labelled. We record chat logs, so it's easy to verify what's prior work. When we evaluate the significance of a result, we focus on the part produced at the event.

I don't think AI will solve more math problems in a world with Mathathon than the counterfactual by EOY. People will use AI in math anyways. What matters is: can we encourage them to do so transparently and with full understanding of their results? Can we change the incentives in academia to reward problem selection and verification over proof generation?

Agreed. I think we share the same concerns about LLM use. We just drew different conclusions.

Mathathon's goal is to reshape rather than stop LLM use. Can we set high standards for LLM use? Can we highlight the roles of a mathematician beyond proof generation? Can we redesign our incentives to promote these standards and roles?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to improve this event. We're very open to criticisms.

Yes. To us, solving a problem with AI doesn't matter as much as selecting the right problem and understanding the proof. A participant must have a good mathematical intuition.

We are a student-led initiative. Our sponsors don't pay us and don't have a say in our decisions. All of our funding goes toward our judges and participants.

You pick your own problem! You can even formulate your own conjecture and then prove it. Picking an impactful problem is part of our judging criteria.

1. IMO the hard part isn't prompting. It's selecting the problem and understanding the solution. It'd be especially exciting if a participant formulates their own conjecture, proves it with AI, then generalizes it to a new theory.

2. We have talked to mathematicians and frontier lab employees. We think 40 hours is enough to produce interesting results.

We aren't affliated with the CS department. We're a student-led initiative. Our goal is to promote responsible AI use in math.

Hey guys! I'm Brian, an organizer of the Caltech Mathathon Challenge. We are hosting the world's first math hackathon. Our goal is to promote responsible use of AI in math. We are working with leading mathematicians to ensure that the judging process rewards human understanding. We'll open source all chat logs and cover everyone's flights. See you at Caltech!