The Simons Foundation, Anthropic and OpenAI commit $15 million in combined funding and resources to help the mathematics community adapt to AI. The foundation will run an open call for workshops and initiatives on evaluating AI-assisted results, learning new tools and setting shared standards, while the two labs provide AI tools and compute to supported researchers.
Simons Foundation Launches $15M Effort To Help Mathematicians Navigate AI Era
October 15, 2026
The funding and resources will help researchers leverage AI tools and adapt to changes in the field.
The Simons Foundation today announced a new set of initiatives that will help the mathematics community navigate the rapid rise of artificial intelligence in the field.
Under a partnership, the Simons Foundation, Anthropic and OpenAI will commit $15 million in combined funding and resources. The foundation will manage and award funding, including through an open call for proposals, to support workshops and initiatives that help researchers evaluate recent AI-assisted results, learn and use new tools, share perspectives and shape collective standards for AI use.
“As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the research landscape, we want to help the mathematical community come together and forge the best path forward,” says Simons Foundation President David Spergel. “Now is the time to look at mathematics as a whole — not as a collection of proofs and theorems, but as a collective understanding driven by human curiosity.”
Anthropic and OpenAI will also provide AI tools and computing resources to researchers supported by the Simons Foundation, extending beyond mathematics to include basic science.
The awards and resources will be community-driven and leverage the foundation’s decades-long dedication to supporting and championing mathematics. The foundation was an early backer of machine learning for science, including funding the development of the Lean proof assistant, which has revolutionized how mathematicians work and made AI-assisted proofs possible. Additionally, the foundation has convened workshops, lectures and collaborations that have brought mathematicians together to explore and discuss AI’s role in the field.
“This is a moment for the mathematics community to come together,” Spergel says. “The community should be driving discussions of how these tools are evaluated, adopted and used, not any single company or institution. The goal of the program is to support the mathematics community.”