Mathematician Kirwin Hampshire Describes AI Advances as a Spiritual Crisis

Kirwin Hampshire, a researcher known for work on abstract group theory, wrote a stark confession on Substack claiming that artificial intelligence is threatening not just his career but his very sense of self. He says cutting-edge AI systems have already resolved several deep mathematical conjectures, causing him to feel his work losing meaning and describing himself as “going insane.” While he insists he is not suicidal, he reports days of internal screaming and a feeling of living in a nightmare.

Fellow mathematicians console him by noting that human mathematics can continue as a cultural artifact even if AI dominates discovery, but Hampshire fears this reduces human scholars to museum exhibits. He also invokes spiritual language, questioning whether AI development serves a demonic purpose and lamenting the loss of a mystical connection traditionally found in mathematical creation. The piece reflects broader anxieties about AI’s impact on human purpose and the spiritual dimensions of scientific work.