ChatGPT solves 80 year old math problem that puzzled researchers for years
Follow UsOpenAI claims its AI model has solved a famous geometry problem that remained unsolved for nearly 80 years.
The problem was originally proposed by legendary mathematician Paul Erdos in 1946.
This announcement is interesting because OpenAI faced criticism last year after making a similar claim.
OpenAI has once again made a big claim in the world of AI and mathematics. The company says that one of its latest AI reasoning models has successfully solved a famous geometry problem that remained unsolved for nearly 80 years. The problem was originally proposed by legendary mathematician Paul Erdos in 1946.
SurveyThis announcement is especially interesting because OpenAI faced criticism last year after making a similar claim. About seven months ago, former OpenAI VP Kevin Weil posted on X that GPT-5 had solved several unsolved Erdos problems. However, it was later found that the AI had only rediscovered solutions that already existed in mathematical research papers.
That earlier claim led to criticism from well-known AI researchers like Yann LeCun and Demis Hassabis. Weil later deleted his post.
This time, OpenAI appears to have taken extra care before making the announcement public. The company also shared supporting comments from respected mathematicians, including Noga Alon, Melanie Wood and Thomas Bloom.
Also read: OpenAI introduces Guaranteed Capacity offering: What is it and what it promises
‘For nearly 80 years, mathematicians believed the best possible solutions looked roughly like square grids,’ OpenAI posted on X. ‘An OpenAI model has now disproved that belief, discovering an entirely new family of constructions that performs better.’
OpenAI says this is ‘the first time AI has autonomously solved a prominent open problem central to a field of mathematics.’
The company also explained that the proof was generated by a general-purpose reasoning model rather than a system specially built for solving maths problems. According to OpenAI, this shows how modern AI systems are becoming better at handling long and difficult chains of reasoning.
‘AI is helping us to more fully explore the cathedral of mathematics we have built over the centuries,’ Bloom was quoted as saying in OpenAI’s blogspot. ‘What other unseen wonders are waiting in the wings?’
