The Mathematician Leads: Building a Research Profile in the Age of Frontier AI

Abstract

I propose that mathematicians who use AI in research maintain a research profile: a record of what the system has learned about working with them, where those lessons came from, and whether they remain useful. I describe how such a profile grew out of my own mathematical work, through corrections, failed approaches, and repeated attempts to keep difficult ideas from drifting toward easier ones. The profile is not a portrait of the mathematician and does not replace mathematical judgment. It belongs under the mathematician's control and must remain open to revision. I invite others to develop profiles of their own and report what they learn.