Simons Foundation Launches $15M Initiative for Mathematicians in AI Era

The Simons Foundation, Anthropic and OpenAI have committed $15 million in combined funding and resources to help mathematicians navigate the rapid rise of artificial intelligence in research. The initiative was announced by the Simons Foundation, which will manage and award the funding through an open call for proposals to support workshops and projects aimed at helping researchers evaluate recent AI-assisted results, learn new tools, share perspectives and develop community standards for AI use. Simons Foundation President David Spergel said the effort is intended to ensure that the mathematics community, rather than any single company or institution, drives decisions about how AI tools are assessed, adopted and applied. The partnership also includes direct support from Anthropic and OpenAI in the form of AI tools and computing resources for researchers backed by the foundation, with applications extending beyond mathematics to broader basic science. The program builds on the Simons Foundation’s long-standing support for mathematics and its early investments in machine learning for science, including funding for the development of the Lean proof assistant. That work has significantly changed how mathematicians verify and develop proofs and has helped create the conditions for AI-assisted mathematical research. The foundation has also previously convened workshops, lectures and collaborations to examine AI’s role in the field.