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OpenAI’s mathematical breakthroughs roil the field

Oct 7, 2026, 6:31am EDT
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Carlos Barria/Reuters

OpenAI announced hundreds of mathematical breakthroughs, stunning the field with the booming capabilities of its technology. The findings, which come weeks after the company said it had succeeded in cracking one of the most complicated problems in mathematics, raised questions over whether the model was using creative thinking or simply completing the final steps of human work.

Experts have argued that AI could be revolutionary for mathematics, but only if it gives the proof for a solution, as those techniques often form the basis of other breakthroughs. “I think there is a good future where we come out way ahead of where we are now,” a mathematician at the University of Toronto told Quanta.

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