Alessio Figalli studies optimal transport, a field of math that ranges from the movements of clouds to the workings of chatbots. By Siobhan Roberts The words “optimal” and “optimize” derive from the ...

Artificial intelligence systems may be good at generating text, recognizing images, and even solving basic math problems—but when it comes to advanced mathematical reasoning, they are hitting a wall.

For all of the recent strides we’ve made in the math world—like a supercomputer finally solving the Sum of Three Cubes problem that puzzled mathematicians for 65 years—we’re forever crunching ...