Simons Foundation's $15M math-and-AI effort
On 15 October 2026 the Simons Foundation announced a set of initiatives to help mathematicians navigate the rise of AI, with the foundation, Anthropic and OpenAI committing $15 million in combined funding and resources. The foundation will manage and award the money, including through an open call for proposals, for workshops and initiatives that help researchers evaluate recent AI-assisted results, learn new tools and shape collective standards for AI use. Applications for Targeted Grants to Math+AI Institutes close on 1 December 2026.
Why it matters
Two AI companies are paying, through a foundation that says it funded the development of the Lean proof assistant, for the mathematical community's own deliberation about the results of their products; the foundation's president says the community, "not any single company or institution", should drive how the tools are evaluated, adopted and used. The page does not split the $15 million among the three partners, so the record gives no partner's share.
What the page says. Dated 15 October 2026 (the Simons Foundation's news page, category "Mathematics & Physical Sciences"). "Under a partnership, the Simons Foundation, Anthropic and OpenAI will commit $15 million in combined funding and resources." The foundation will manage and award the 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". Applications are open for "Targeted Grants to Math+AI Institutes"; the deadline is 1 December 2026 at noon Eastern time. Anthropic and OpenAI will also provide AI tools and computing resources to a select group of researchers supported by the foundation, extending beyond mathematics to basic science; awardees will be contacted directly by the foundation. The foundation's president, David Spergel, is quoted: the community "should be driving discussions of how these tools are evaluated, adopted and used, not any single company or institution". The page recalls that the foundation was an early backer of machine learning for science, including funding the development of the Lean proof assistant, which it says "has revolutionized how mathematicians work and made AI-assisted proofs possible", and has convened workshops on AI's role. What the record does not claim. The page does not say how much each partner gives, or how much of the total is money and how much tools and computing, so the record gives no per-partner figure; the number and size of grants are not stated. The call for proposals itself was not read.