The Download: AI’s role in math, and calculating its energy footprint

The modern world is built on mathematics. Math lets us model complex systems such as the way air flows around an aircraft, the way financial markets fluctuate, and the way blood flows through the heart. Mathematicians have used computers for decades, but the new vision is that AI might help them crack problems that were previously uncrackable. However, there’s a huge difference between AI that can solve the kinds of problems set in high school—math that the latest generation of models has already mastered—and AI that could (in theory) solve the kinds of problems that professional mathematicians spend careers chipping away at. Here are three ways to understand that gulf. —Will Douglas HeavenThis story is from our What’s Next series, which looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. Inside the effort to tally AI’s energy appetite —James O'Donnell After working on it for months, my colleague Casey Crown ... Read full article.