News Summary

• Companies developing AI systems tailored to mathematical reasoning have reported steady progress in the past year.
• In experimental fields, prototype ‘AI scientists’ are beginning to automate parts of the discovery cycle, but they remain constrained by the demands of the physical world.
• We break the process into several overlapping phases: setting the agenda, formalizing ideas, proposing conjectures and solving and verifying results.
• This framework is imperfect, but it provides a useful way to assess where AI is already contributing, where challenges lie and how they might be addressed.