Yes. The June 2, 2026 Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics explicitly says mathematicians may choose whether and how to adopt AI, including whether to use it at all. The International Mathematical Union (IMU) endorses the declaration. That makes refusal a recognized professional option—not a universal ban, a claim that every AI use is wrong, or proof that opting out is easy in every workplace.
What the Leiden Declaration says about opting out
The declaration states that mathematicians have a choice about whether and how to adopt AI in research. Its recommendations to individual mathematicians include considering “whether to use [automated tools] at all.” The declaration therefore answers the narrow question directly: using AI is not presented as a professional obligation.
That choice is part of a broader framework, not a demand that everyone take the same position. The declaration also recommends selective use, transparency about automated tools, proper attribution, human responsibility for correctness and citations, and work that others can review. The IMU describes the declaration as a starting point for discussion and acknowledges that colleagues may disagree with parts of it. Read the Leiden Declaration and the IMU’s endorsement.
Why some mathematicians may choose not to use AI
The declaration’s concerns are about the conditions mathematics depends on, not simply whether a tool can produce an answer. Its authors point to the importance of proof, understanding, independent verification, fair evaluation, attribution, and researchers’ ability to set mathematical priorities. They warn that automated systems may produce plausible but unreliable arguments, make peer review harder, obscure prior contributions, shape incentives, and favor problems that are easier to automate. These are concerns the declaration raises; they do not establish that every system or use produces those harms. The declaration’s text and Scientific American’s account explain the debate.
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For an individual, opting out may also reflect a preference for doing mathematical thinking without generated suggestions, reservations about the source or governance of a system, or ethical concerns about a research partnership. The declaration treats such considerations as legitimate parts of deciding which tools to use. It also recognizes alternatives to an all-or-nothing choice: mathematicians can use tools selectively, favor smaller, non-proprietary or more energy-efficient systems where suitable, or accept slower work when that better fits their values.
AI in mathematics is not one kind of tool
“AI” can refer to distinct methods with different roles: formal proof assistants, symbolic reasoning systems, machine-learning methods, and general-purpose large language models. A decision about one does not automatically settle the others. A formal proof assistant, for example, can help check a formalized argument; that is different from asking a general-purpose chatbot to invent or explain a proof.
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Jeremy Avigad’s March 2026 overview, revised April 6, describes a handful of notable mathematical successes alongside AI-related methods that remain niche. In Oberwolfach Reports 43/2025, mathematician Melanie Matchett Wood described graduate- and research-level LLM mathematics as “disturbingly unreliable,” recounting false or conflicting outputs on examples in group theory and other graduate-level topics. Her account is a named researcher’s assessment, not a controlled benchmark of every current system. Avigad’s essay and the Oberwolfach report provide those perspectives.
The evidence supports neither the claim that AI has no mathematical value nor the claim that mathematicians must use it. In 2026, Ilka Agricola, chair of the IMU Committee on Publishing, told Scientific American that AI “can be extremely useful and helpful” when used responsibly, while also criticizing the wider problems around its use. Capability, reliability, and suitability depend on the method and task; independent checking remains essential when correctness matters.
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What refusal means in practice
Recognizing a choice does not mean every mathematician can opt out without consequences. Institutional rules, funding conditions, journal policies, collaborators’ practices, access to tools, and the expectations attached to a project may affect what refusal requires. The declaration recognizes the choice; the cited materials do not establish how often mathematicians refuse AI or whether opting out is professionally consequence-free.
A practical decision can start with the work itself, rather than a blanket position on technology:
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- Fit: Is the tool appropriate for this mathematical task, or would it add little?
- Verification: Can the output be checked independently, and can the reasoning be reviewed by others?
- Responsibility and credit: Who will verify the result, disclose the tool’s role, and cite relevant sources?
- Access and control: Does the choice depend on a costly, resource-intensive, or proprietary system, and are workable alternatives available?
- Values and consequences: Does using the tool or entering a research partnership align with the mathematician’s and institution’s ethical commitments?
Those questions allow for selective use, limited use, or no use. If a mathematician does use an automated tool, the declaration’s recommendations make clear that the tool does not take over the human researcher’s responsibility for the work’s correctness, citations, attribution, and reviewability.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What endorsements and signatures do—and do not—show
The IMU’s endorsement gives the declaration professional visibility, but it is guidance for discussion rather than a binding rule for every mathematician. The declaration site displayed 4,237 signatories on October 3, 2026. That is a live, self-selected count, not a representative survey of mathematicians’ views or AI use. Nature’s 2025 poll covered 5,000 researchers broadly; it should not be read as a mathematician-only measure of acceptance or refusal. The declaration site carries its current displayed count, while Nature’s coverage describes the poll.
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