1st Relatorium Dialogue on Mathematics and AI

Abstract: The practice and experience of mathematics is being talked about more intensely and broadly these days than ever before, and it’s thanks to AIs setting their gaze to conquer it, like a collection of distant mountain ridges, just out of reach. The attention is most welcome. What are we learning about mathematics from our growing relations with AIs?

Panelists' Bios: Dr. Renato (Rem) Faraone holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and works as an independent researcher. Rem's work in AI focuses on episodic memory and associative history, grounded on allegori(a)l foundations for Mathematics. Rem is currently working on attention mechanisms at TrueAGI and is co-organizer of the Pacific NorthWest AGI Forum.

Nestor Guillen is currently a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at the Courant School Institute at New York University, specializing in partial differential equations and scientific computing. He completed his undergraduate studies in mathematics at Universidad Simon Bolívar in Venezuela, and obtained his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Luis Caffarelli. Prof. Guillen's research has been recognized with an NSF CAREER Award (2021), and a Frontier of Science Award (2026). More recently he has written extensive commentary on the challenges and opportunities brought by generative AI technologies, he is also a founding board member of the Palomar Registry for Lean-verified mathematics.

Max Lieblich is Professor and Chair in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Washington. He earned his AB from Harvard and his PhD from MIT, and then spent time at Brown and Princeton before joining the University of Washington faculty in 2009. His work has mostly focused on algebraic geometry, including projects related to computer vision. He has also done some work in public health and educational technology.

Gireeja Ranade is an Associate Teaching Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the Berkeley faculty she was at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and her undergraduate degree from MIT in Cambridge, MA. She is the recipient of some awards for her research and teaching such as the NSF CAREER Award, the UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering Award for Outstanding Teaching, the UC Berkeley Award for Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times and others.

David Spivak received a PhD in mathematics from UC Berkeley in 2007. Noticing category theory’s impressive ability to organize and layer abstractions and to interconnect widely different disciplines, he set out to show that mathematics’ most abstract field was also its most applicable. After spending ten years at MIT, he co-founded Topos Institute, an independent non-profit research institute that works to shape technology for the public benefit by applying the language of category theory. David's work ranges from database integration to knowledge representation, from materials science to dynamical systems to learning and sensemaking, all with a focus on compositionality and interoperability. He has written four books on applications of category theory.

Moderator's bio: Ted Theodosopoulos is a mathematician who, after working for years in academia and industry, transitioned to teaching at the pre-college level seventeen years ago, the last nine at Nueva, where he teaches math and economics. Ted’s research background is in the area of interacting stochastic systems, with particular applications in biology and economics.

Computer scienceMathematics

Audience: researchers in the topic

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Relatorium seminar

Series comments: The name "Relatorium" combines "relator" with the Latin root "-ium," meaning "a place for activities" (as in "auditorium" or "gymnasium"). This seminar series is a platform to relate ideas, interact with math, and connect with each other.

In this series, we explore math beyond what we usually hear in standard talks. These sessions fall somewhere between a technical talk and a podcast: moderately formal, yet conversational. The philosophy behind the series is that math is best learned by active participation rather than passive listening. Our aim is to “engage and involve,” inviting everyone to think actively with the speaker. The concepts are accessible, exploratory, and intended to spark questions and discussions.

The idea of relatability has strong ties to compassion — creating space for shared understanding and exploration - which is the spirit of this seminar! This is a pilot project, so we’re here to improvise, learn, and evolve as we go!

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