UC Irvine, USC receive $2.6 million DARPA grant for AI to drive math breakthroughs – UC Irvine News

UC Irvine, USC receive .6 million DARPA grant for AI to drive math breakthroughs – UC Irvine News

UC Irvine, USC receive $2.6 million DARPA grant for AI to drive math breakthroughs – UC Irvine News

https://news.uci.edu/2026/05/18/uc-irvine-usc-receive-2-6-million-darpa-grant-for-ai-to-drive-math-breakthroughs/

Publish Date: 2026-05-18 12:52:00

Source Domain: news.uci.edu

  • UC Irvine and USC researchers received a $2.6 million grant from DARPA to study AI’s impact on mathematical research, focusing on its effect on mathematical discovery beyond purely solving problems.
  • The three-year project aims to investigate how AI tools, such as those working in number theory, partial differential equations, and computational complexity, accelerate breakthroughs in mathematical research.
  • Led by UC Irvine’s Jesse Wolfson, the team includes USC’s Aravind Asok and UC Irvine’s Alexa McLain, and will be conducted through workshops with mathematicians working on unsolved problems.
  • Unlike traditional AI assessments, this study will measure AI’s effect in active research environments, specifically examining AI’s productivity on open problems in contemporary mathematical research.
  • The project falls under DARPA’s Exponentiating Mathematics Program, which seeks to advance pure mathematics by developing AI systems to support advanced research.