HEIDELBERG, Germany, 24.09.2026 – AI models can now tackle non-trivial research problems. What that means for mathematics, and whether mathematicians should welcome it, was the question running through the 13th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), which concluded on September 18.

For six days, 21 laureates of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics and computer science met with 200 young researchers in the fields from more than 50 nations for lectures, panel discussions and informal exchange between generations. The laureates included six of the nine recipients of the fields' top prizes awarded in 2026.

Mathematicians Confront AI
The focal point of the week was the September 15 panel discussion "AI in Mathematical Research." Tony Feng (UC Berkeley, Google DeepMind) moderated. The panelists were Fields Medalists Peter Scholze and Jacob Tsimerman, Michael Harris (Columbia University) and Geordie Williamson (University of Sydney). They assessed what AI can already do, how it is changing the way mathematicians work, and how the community should respond.

Scholze gave one of the week's most pointed assessments: "AI wants to accelerate everything, and I don't see any inherent value in acceleration at all." He argued that even without AI, mathematics is advancing so quickly that genuinely understanding its progress is already a bottleneck.

"The panel highlighted very different viewpoints on how to deal with the influence of AI on mathematics: from embracing the use of AI, to cautioning the support of companies whose values might not be aligned with ours, to trying to pinpoint what mathematics should really be about. The onstage discussion addressed many questions that the math and broader community must face and served as the starting point for many conversations among the HLF participants throughout the week," said Jessica Fintzen and Albrecht Schmidt, Scientific Co-Chairs of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF).

Indeed, those conversations also came up across the program:

• In a Spark Talk on "AI Safety and Mathematics," Tsimerman, who received the Fields Medal this year, argued that societies manage real risks by looking at them clearly and steering away from bad outcomes, not by ignoring them.
• Torsten Hoefler (ACM Prize in Computing – 2024) asked "Can We Build an AI Scientist?" and predicted that "everything that is verifiable will be automated."
• Fields Medalist Martin Hairer presented "First Proof," a way to measure how useful AI really is to mathematical research by giving it the kinds of problems talented mathematicians would actually work on.

Quantum Threats and Trustworthy Computation
Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard received the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award for their pioneering role in the quantum revolution in computer science. At the HLF, they gave a joint lecture, "The Quantum Information Revolution from Wiesner to Turing."

Brassard cautioned that the quantum threat to today's public-key cryptography is often misunderstood. The danger does not begin when a quantum computer appears, because encrypted data can be harvested now and decrypted later. As he put it, "if a quantum computer arrives tomorrow, then my data is gone today."

Yael Tauman Kalai (ACM Prize in Computing – 2022) took up a related question of trust: When a massive computation is outsourced, how can anyone be sure the result is correct? Her lecture presented succinct cryptographic proofs, which are compact and quick to check, as one answer.

From Abstract Algebra to the Expanding Universe
The scientific program covered the breadth of both disciplines:

• 2026 IMU Abacus Medal recipient Shayan Oveis Gharan lectured on "Polynomials Paradigm and Applications in Algorithms."
• 2026 Fields Medalist Yu Deng gave a Spark Talk addressing “Critical Problems in Statistical Physics and PDEs.”
• Efim Zelmanov (Fields Medal – 1994) opened the final day with a look at 200 years of abstract algebra.
• Nobel laureate Brian P. Schmidt, whose Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the discovery of the universe's accelerating expansion, gave this year's Lindau Lecture, "The State of the Universe." He traced how scientists came to understand that the universe is expanding.

Attendees also watched livestreams marking the 100th birthday of Jean-Pierre Serre, the first recipient of the Abel Prize. These included a lecture by Pierre Deligne in Serre's honor and a talk by Serre himself from the celebrations in Paris.

Young Researchers Set the Agenda
Dorothee Bär, Germany's Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, addressed the Opening Ceremony by video. She praised the Forum as a place where knowledge that cannot be learned from a paper passes in person from one generation to the next. She closed with an appeal to attendees: "Mathematics has outlived every border ever drawn around it. Please keep it that way."

The young researchers in attendance carried that spirit forward. On the final day, the HLF held its first-ever Un-Conference, a bottom-up format for which young researchers had pitched and voted on discussion topics during the week. Here it was clear that many of the same topics addressed by laureates were ubiquitous among the next generation of scientists as well: Many sessions dealt with AI, including its impact on academia, "How to Reshape Education in the Age of AI" and "Technofascism and Silicon Valley Ideology." Others took up "The Role of Mathematics and Computer Science for Society" and "The Value of Pure Mathematics."

Watch, Read, and Report
The entire scientific program of the 13th HLF is available on the HLF's YouTube channel, along with a Highlight Film and the VLOG@HLF looking back on the week. The HLFF Blog has in-depth articles on the Forum's topics. Journalists may use a curated selection of photos from Flickr in their reporting, as long as attribution is provided.

Journalists interested in reporting on the 14th HLF in 2027 will be able to register for accreditation from March 2027 onwards. Journalists may also apply for a limited number of travel grants from March to April 2027.

Background
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) annually organizes the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), which is an international networking event for mathematicians and computer scientists. The 13th Heidelberg Laureate Forum took place from September 13 to 18, 2026. The HLFF was established and is funded by the German foundation Klaus Tschira Stiftung, which promotes natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science. The scientific partners of the HLF are the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and Heidelberg University. The HLF is strongly supported by the award-granting institutions the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA).

Press Inquiries
Nikolas A. Mariani
Nicole Schmitt
Communications
Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation
Schloss-Wolfsbrunnenweg 33, 69118 Heidelberg, Germany
media@heidelberg-laureate-forum.org
Telephone: +49 6221 533-384