Overview
- OpenAI said on Monday, October 26 that its internal models produced a proof of a local smoothing result tied to the Kakeya and Stein restriction problems, a claimed deterministic algorithm that would refute the Exponential Time Hypothesis for 3‑SAT, and a mathematically rigorous existence proof for certain four‑dimensional interacting quantum field theories.
- The firm posted the model outputs and some Lean formalizations for the math and computer science claims to GitHub so researchers can examine them, but the physics group led by David Gross has withheld the AI artifacts while preparing a human writeup.
- OpenAI named external 'shepherds' to lead verification: a working group led by Russell Impagliazzo, Ramamohan Paturi and Ryan Williams will examine the ETH claim, and David Gross plus noted physicists will guide the physics review.
- Independent experts are already finding flaws in earlier October releases and community checks are ongoing, with verification, provenance of training data and prompt details, and questions of credit and early access expected to take months to resolve.
- Advisory groups and institutions have urged OpenAI to publish full provenance, fund independent checking, and prefer open repository release with formal proofs because the company’s approach could reshape prize adjudication, journal review and researchers’ careers.