Mathematicians can earn status in the field by solving previously unsolved problems. AI can do it too, arguably better than humans. This worries professional mathematicians for two reasons. One is the same thing that worries people in other professions such as programmers: If they are currently being paid to solve problems and AI can do it faster and cheaper they may no longer have jobs. The other is that mathematicians enjoy solving unsolved problems. Unsolved problems that can be solved by a sufficiently good mathematicians are a depletable resource being depleted by their AI competitors. This gets us to the question in my title: What are mathematicians paid for' Solving a problem nobody else has solved gets you status, a job, very likely tenure, possibly a cash prize, but why' One possible answer is that solutions to unsolved mathematical problems are so valuable that mathematicians who have produced one are rewarded for doing so, mathematicians who have not produced one are...
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