Daniel Litt

Mathematics in the Library of Babel — Daniel Litt Mathematics isn't only about saying true things. It's about asking the right questions, being confused, stumbling about, getting distracted, being wrong, recognizing when you're wrong, being stuck. Mo...

Some thoughts on AI and math, inspired by “First Proof”: www.daniellitt.com/blog/2026/2/...

I thought this was very insightful. They have tremendous breadth of knowledge but struggle a bit more at depth of reasoning (and depth has grown much more slowly)

How much programming requires IMO Gold or less reasoning, though? I'd say maybe like 75% of my work is

MATHEMATICS IN THE LIBRARY OF BABEL February 21, 2026 Mathematics isn't only about saying true things. It's about asking the right questions, being confused, stumbling about, getting distracted, being wrong, recognizing when you're wrong, being stuck. Mostly being stuck. It's about clinging to a giant edifice and feeling it out until you understand some tiny piece of it. It's about finding meaning in and intuition for the texture of an object which, at first, can only be apprehended by bashing your skull into it until it imprints on your forehead. Then trying to convey some of that insight to someone else, and watching as they find their own way to it. I started trying to get LLMs to do math in July 2020, through the game "AI Dungeon," one of the earliest applications powered by GPT-3. I first got GPT-3 to produce a correct proof (of Fermat's Little Theorem) in April 2022. At the time I did not think they would become useful for math research in the near term.

With alt text (thanks @barbarafantechi.bsky.social!)

Figured I’d re-up this with an excerpt.

Daniel Litt made a great post about the current and future state of AI in math, in which I am also featured.

Recommended read for any and all here!

Thanks, very open to any (arbitrarily critical) comments.

Mathematics in the Library of Babel — Daniel Litt Mathematics isn't only about saying true things. It's about asking the right questions, being confused, stumbling about, getting distracted, being wrong, recognizing when you're wrong, being stuck. Mo...

Some thoughts on AI and math, inspired by “First Proof”: www.daniellitt.com/blog/2026/2/...

Bluesky needs more academic crankery so I can get my @littmath.bsky.social math shitposting all in one convenient location

Toddler, post-museum, refusing to go up to her bath: “I’m art so don’t touch me!”

Toddler on art during recent museum visits:
Left—“They started drawing a house! *matter-of-factly* They’ll finish it tomorrow.”
Right—“That baby’s in a tissue box!”

Yes, I think so.

toddler (on the way to preschool): I can see the CN tower
me: it was too cloudy to see it yesterday. isn’t it nice we can see the whole thing today?
toddler *patiently*: daddy, we can only see the front of it.

…he is still greedy (charging for his story) and oddly concerned with novelty clothing items (while he no longer knits Thneeds, his current outfit has a “secret strange hole in its gruvulous glove.”)

Incidentally “The Lorax” is really one of Seuss’s best. My favorite aspect of it is that the Once-ler’s characterization is very sharp: even though he regrets that his excess led to the destruction of the Truffula trees, …

For the first time she was very concerned by the destruction of the Truffula trees (“they should get more trees!”) and we had a very nice conversation about the ending of the story.

me: *reading “The Lorax”* NOW…thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there's not enough Truffula Fruit to go 'round.
And my poor Bar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies because they have gas, and no food, in their tummies!
toddler: They should get sushi!

Toddler (sitting down in a restaurant she’s never been to): I’ve been here before! When I was little!
Me *dubious*: Really? When?
Toddler *thinks, nods*: When I was medium!

Toddler: I want to do “Lady and the Tramp” all by myself! *sticks both ends of a string of spaghetti in her mouth*

Toddler: I want two apricots, because I’m two-and-a-half. *Pause* When I turn three, I can have three apricots. *Pause, realization* When I turn four, I can have four apricots! When I turn five, I can have FIVE apricots!

How does math research change when the cost of trying your first dumb idea goes to zero?

University of Toronto mathematician Daniel Litt joins hosts Greg Burnham & Anson Ho to discuss what today’s models can and can’t do in math, and how far they are from doing high-quality research.

Video below!

Daniel Litt is a professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto. He has been a careful observer of AI’s progress toward accelerating mathematical disc... AI math capabilities could be jagged for a long time – Daniel Litt

Watch the full episode here: youtu.be/jFJku8sxLWY

Full transcript & references available here: epoch.ai/epoch-after...

Toddler, talking to her uncle on the phone: Where are you?
Uncle: I’m at work. What about you?
Toddler: I don’t work. I just play! You’re SO silly!

Continuation, on further discussion.
Me: do bees really make pizza?
Toddler: *long pause* they don’t have hands
Me: right, so how would they make pizza?
Toddler: Maybe stuffed toy bees?

Sorry, toddler posting out of control. I’m holding back too, the hits are coming like every three minutes.

Toddler, melting down due to broken granola bar.
Me: How bout I glue it together with honey.
Toddler *tearfully*: OK
Me: Did you know bees make honey?
Toddler: *nods* they make pizza too!

Sometimes, after announcing she’s strong, she also flexes her arms.

Toddler: “I opened the fridge all by myself! I tried and tried with all my might! I am super STRONG!”

Toddler: *grabs slice of toast, turns to me* I want this Frenched!

Toddler asked to buy 3 donut holes yesterday, one each for her, mommy, and daddy. On getting home—
Her: “Daddy, only take ONE. Just ONE!”
Me: How many are you going to take?
Her: Just…one?

Toddler refused to eat her cheese after slightly tearing it, demanding I tape it back together. After some negotiation she was satisfied with me using “avocado tape,” i.e. laying thin slices of avocado over the tear.