By: Kyle Xu

When artificial intelligence took the world by storm, many students and adults alike expected the models to be math whizzes. Against popular belief, however, AI is actually more literary than mathematical.

Some of the most boastful accomplishments of AI chatbots include summarizing books, writing fiction, and also doing your English homework. However, AI hits a brick wall when it comes to calculus and advanced math.

Take this real-life example: Say you’re trying to find a synonym for the adjective ‘fast.’ Many answers come to mind – speedy, quick, etc. But there’s only one solution for two-plus-two-equals-four.

This applies similarly to large language models, which are trained based on vast amounts of data. When working with words, AI has more leeway and is given an array of possibilities to answer with. But mathematics revolves around strict, rigid rules. Two-plus-two will never be five.

The question of using AI for schoolwork is a different matter. High school math teacher Kirk Schneider predicts that AI will inevitably become integrated into student life. However, Schneider is teaching his students that AI “isn’t good enough in math,” where things have “got to be accurate.”

Schneider often allows students to compare with the chatbot’s answer and work. He manages to turn it into a learning opportunity – sometimes, AI isn’t completely trustable.

Still, it could be eye-opening for people to learn that these almost-human chatbots are not an evolution from calculators. They are two completely different things.

Calculators, the previous generation of artificial intelligence, revolve around strict rules. If this, do that. This allowed calculators to be downright accurate but only gave it a small scope of functions, so engineers looked to other methods in frustration. AI was reborn.

New AI learns and chooses from all the information it’s gathered and fed.

They are something revolutionary.