Has OpenAI started the 'mathpocalypse'? Experts say AI's solving of iconic math problems may cause huge issues in the long run

OpenAI has solved or partially solved 372 outstanding mathematical challenges Some of the solutions, while clear, cannot be understood by some humans, and were produced with an internal, unreleased AI model Renowned mathematician Terence Tao has called for colleagues working with OpenAI to abandon their projects OpenAI has stunned the world of advanced maths by releasing solutions and partial solutions to 372 outstanding problems that have puzzled the world’s greatest minds for decades.

Just two years ago, AI was finding it tricky to handle GCSE-level mathematical challenges.

Today, it is solving problems that have taken humans years to even establish the existence of.

The solutions provided, meanwhile, are considered almost as complex as the problems, and the scale – published in 722 papers – make it difficult for human mathematicians to understand and verified.

The impact of the release has prompted one of the world’s greatest mathematicians, Terence Tao, to call for a return to a traditional vision of science.

Demonstration of power OpenAI’s publication of its work on these advanced mathematical problems is the latest demonstration of how far the technology has come.

Just a few weeks ago, the company published its proposal for the Navier-Stokes equation (concerning the behaviour of viscous fluids), generated by its unreleased specialized math model.

Tao is leading the opposition, as one of the field’s leading voices, and a man considered to be the greatest living mind in mathematics.

Following OpenAI’s contribution, he shared a post from the Association for Human Mathematics, which concludes : “Releasing over 700 files at once is not a demonstration of scholarship, but a demonstration of power.

We urge mathematicians to discontinue their work with OpenAI and to return to a vision of science that centers human understanding.” However, as powerful as that conclusion is, their response to OpenAI’s intervention as a whole highlights that the company may have overstepped.