What Alex Kontorovich has said about Mathematics education
2 quotes · 1 episode · Oct 26, 2026
Alex Kontorovich, Number theorist at Rutgers University working on the Riemann hypothesis and the Lean proof assistant, has been quoted on Mathematics education 2 times in 1 episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, most recently on October 26, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Kontorovich reports that undergraduate grades have become bimodal, split between students who use AI to learn and those who use it to get answers.
“What we're seeing at the undergraduate level is a bimodal distribution”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory (Oct 26, 2026) · Listen from 3:26:37
Kontorovich argues, citing calculators and times tables, that students should master skills even when machines can perform them.
“just because a calculator can do it, you're going to be much better off if you can also do it yourself”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory (Oct 26, 2026) · Listen from 3:24:59
Episodes
#503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity TheoryLex Fridman Podcast · Oct 26, 2026 · 3 h 43 min
Lex Fridman and mathematicians Alex Kontorovich, Ankur Moitra and Steven Brunton discuss AI's claimed proofs of quasi-Riemann, Navier-Stokes, unique games and what it means for mathematics.
Others on Mathematics education
- Ankur Moitra · 1 quote
Alex Kontorovich on other topics
- Riemann hypothesis · 2 quotes
- Artificial intelligence · 2 quotes
- Fields Medal · 1 quote
- Fermat's Last Theorem · 1 quote
- Lean (proof assistant) · 1 quote