IE Sci-Tech Talks Math and AI
The panel discussion hosted renowned mathematicians.
Renowned mathematician and Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy participated in the panel Mathematics in the Age of AI at IE University, along with Eva Gallardo, President of the Real Sociedad Matemática Española and professor and math influencer, Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón.
Irene Alda, Academic Director for the new Bachelor in Applied Mathematics focused on how to create meaningful math experiences in the future and the effect new technologies like AI will have.
The panel discussed the importance of studying mathematics even with AI’s rise, and critiqued current teaching methodologies of the field, proposing necessary changes especially to spark students’ interest in mathematics.
Sautoy explained the importance of humans in understanding mathematics despite AI’s ability in detecting patterns.
“AI is very good at spotting patterns, and actually, mathematics is very often about spotting new patterns, but what AI is not very good at at the moment is explaining why there is that connection,” he said. “You need to have understanding, and what humans are very good at is then putting the story behind that new observation.”
Gallardo, professor at Universidad Complutense criticized AI’s limits in mathematical logic.
“If you ask them [AI] to prove some basic statement in logic, it makes a completely wrong statement,” she said.
De Cabezón, professor at University of La Rioja discussed how rising unemployment rates and demand for data science fields are pushing students away from applying to mathematics degrees for the sake of loving the field.
“I'm missing the people who are in our degrees and want to be a math teacher, they are out of our math degrees- they're out. And also some people who are maybe very keen on mathematics in the abstract method, they love math, for the sake of mathematics,” he said. “I’ve been worried about this.”
Gallardo, also president of the Real Sociedad Matemática Española spoke about passion when asked about what students need to be equipped with to pursue studying mathematics.
“Passion. If you want to start mastering it [mathematics], I think it’s a matter of passion,” she said.
Sautoy, author of the book Thinking Better: The Art of Shortcut gave insights on how to make mathematics interesting to students.
“My kids went to school, they did English language and English literature. In the English language, they learned how to use language, grammar, spelling. In English literature, they learned Shakespeare and Animal Farm. They got fired up by the subject,” he explained. “In math, we got math language, we need to create math literature.”
Sautoy criticized the silo mentality of educational systems, highlighting the lack of integration among different subjects.
“I think education suffers from having this silo mentality. When you go to secondary school, where suddenly you’re going to the maths class, the history class, the music class, science class, and there’s no attempt to integrate these, and to show that maths is, you know, at the heart of a musical composition, or it has history,” he said. “I think that’s the way to sort of draw people in who aren’t natural mathematicians.”
Esteban Sánchez Perezconde, a student studying the dual degree in Business Administration along with Data and Business Analytics said he found the talk inspiring.
“I enjoyed how all three guests showed their passion and made a point that AI would never replace math. One of the true gifts of mathematicians is their passion for math,” he said.
IE School of Science and Technology officially launched the Bachelor in Applied Mathematics this academic year 2023-2024.