I’ll write romance novels if AI solves all maths problems, Chinese Fields winner jokes

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-09-11 · by Shi Huang
Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗

Summary

Chinese mathematician and Fields medal winner Caucher Birkar's colleague Shing-Tung Yau is not mentioned as making this statement but his fellow winner Hua Deng made a humorous comment on social media. Deng said if AI can solve all math problems, he would write a yuri novel, a genre of Japanese comics depicting intimate friendships between women. He also stated that AI has created a sense of restlessness and impatience in mathematical circles. Deng later clarified his statement was meant as a joke, saying he doesn't believe AI will be able to solve all math problems.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
14%
1 of 7 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher trust
93.6
red-flag proxy, not a credibility rating
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-11 · how these are computed

AI analysis (generated at analysis time, not now)

Story summary

Chinese mathematician Deng wrote on social media that if AI could solve all math problems, he would leave his field and write romance novels instead. Specifically, he joked about writing a yuri novel, a genre of Japanese comics and novels that features romantic relationships between women. This statement was made as AI models are increasingly able to push the boundaries of mathematical knowledge, causing some mathematicians like Deng to worry that they might become obsolete. However, when asked about it, Deng clarified that his statement was just a joke and that he doesn't think AI will actually solve all math problems anytime soon.

Written for “Maths Problem Challenge” on 2026-09-12, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 7931 · logged 2026-09-11

Story

📰 Maths Problem Challenge
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event. This is the one the site leads with.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

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This article reads unscored and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Publisher

South China Morning Post · 207 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Shi Huang
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 I’ll write romance novels if AI solves all maths problems, Chinese Fields winner jokes As AI models prove they can push the boundaries, mathematicians are grappling with the threat that they could become obsolete On Tuesday, he wrote on social media that “if AI can solve all maths problems, I’ll go home and write my yuri novel”.
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

Chinese Japanese the South China Morning Post

Subjects

Deng PERSON · 3× Chinese NORP · 2× yuri PERSON · 2× Japanese NORP · 1× the South China Morning Post ORG · 1×

Narrative

In the post, which was later shared on another Chinese social platform, Deng wrote that AI has created “an atmosphere of restlessness and impatience” in mathematical circles.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-11
🔮 I’ll write romance novels if AI solves all maths problems, Chinese Fields winner jokes As AI models prove they can push the boundaries, mathematicians are grappling with the threat that they could become obsolete On Tuesday, he wrote on social media that “if AI can solve all maths problems, I’ll go home and write my yuri novel”.
2026-09-11 · South China Morning Post
I’ll write romance novels if AI solves all maths problems, Chinese Fields winner jokes · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 1 hedged)

I’ll write romance novels if AI solves all maths problems, Chinese Fields winner jokes As AI models prove they can push the boundaries, mathematicians are grappling with the threat that they could become obsolete On Tuesday, he wrote on social media that “if AI can solve all maths problems, I’ll go home and write my yuri novel”. uncertain
I → write → novel
Deng is known to be a big fan of yuri, a genre of Japanese novels and comics that depicts intimate friendships and romantic relationships between women. asserted
that → know → women
In the post, which was later shared on another Chinese social platform, Deng wrote that AI has created “an atmosphere of restlessness and impatience” in mathematical circles. asserted
AI → share → circles
“Once this wavefront passes in the next year or two, the situation will gradually become clear. asserted
situation → pass → year
Mathematics will naturally adapt slowly, and a new ecosystem is gradually taking shape.” asserted
ecosystem → adapt → shape
Deng told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday that he was “not currently writing a yuri novel. asserted
he → tell → novel
“I don’t believe AI can develop to the point of solving all mathematical problems, at least not those I mentioned in my post,” he added. asserted
he → believe → post
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