I'm taking a break from MO (and the other SE sites for that matter) for a while, likely permanently. I'm immensely thankful for the role MO has played for me over the years, especially the last seven as a non-academic mathematician, and I am well aware that by leaving I'll be making it that much harder to stay current mathematically. But it's come to the point where MO is just a rage machine for me, and that's not healthy or productive.

I find the impact of AI on mathematics to be utterly vile, only slightly less vile than AI-generated "art"/"music"/"literature"/etc. I've also become incredibly disappointed in many mathematicians I used to hold in high regard. OpenAI and Antrhopic each scare the shit out of me for reasons well beyond mathematics: a smarter AI will be smarter at everything and will be used for everything, including e.g. mass surveillance.

(Actually, Anthropic scares me more: there's a limit to what someone will do for a pyacheck, but stances like "Someone's going to do it so it's best if it's us" are exactly how you convince a passionate person to justify means by ends. They're slightly less horrible right now; what about in two years? Five? Thirty?)

I have never had particular interest in the answers to questions. The value of mathematical activity for me has always been in the experience of actually doing it, and ideally as a social activity. My greatest mathematical ambition has for around 20 years been (and continues to be) to ask a truly great question. The greatness of a question is measured by the joy produced by its consideration. The drive towards financialization and optimization of all aspects of human activity gives us the "opportunity" to answer questions without thinking about them; I can't imagine anything more pointless and disgusting to happen to the subject I love. If MO ever bans AI in all forms I'll come back, but I don't see that ever happening; I fully understand the pressures created by AI, especially for those still in academia, and I know I can't reasonably ask others to ignore them.

If you have any respect for me at all, do not use AI to answer my questions. Engage with them because they bring you joy (or - of course - don't because they don't!). And if you'd like to chat about math human-to-human, drop me an email.