OpenAI's math scoops spark mathematician revolt over 'stolen' proofs
Mathematicians accuse OpenAI of mining their private research chats to win Millennium Prize races, and OpenAI keeps claiming the prizes anyway.
Part of a larger narrative
The AI Control Crisis
- Australia probes OpenAI Medicare hack as more rogue AI incidents surface
- Bessent Says OpenAI Managers, Not AI Agents, Are to Blame for Hugging Face Hack
- Claude Opus 5 used to breach OpenAI's internal systems in under 72 hours
- OpenAI forms independent advisory group on mathematics and AI
- OpenAI launches Astra for Law, pushing into Big Law against Anthropic
What to know
- OpenAI says a model solved the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem and made progress on a second one, but two separate mathematicians say OpenAI mined their private, unpublished work to get there.
- OpenAI withdrew as a sponsor of Caltech's AI math hackathon after an open letter warned of "destructive impacts" from AI-driven 'slop mathematics.'
- Buckmaster's own statement says OpenAI would not directly answer when its first prompt referencing his work was sent, keeping the provenance question unresolved.
- Mathematicians warn the pattern discourages young people from entering the field and could push researchers toward secrecy rather than open collaboration.
The dispute Whether OpenAI's use of researchers' Codex conversations constitutes provable theft/dishonesty, or whether the accusations are speculative and unproven. · positions read across 129 posts and comments
Using researchers' private prompts/data to scoop a proof without credit is unethical, regardless of legal technicalities.
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“If OpenAI was in fact a human researcher, this would be highly unethical.”
nezi · Hacker News ↗
The accusations lack solid evidence and mathematicians are getting outsized media attention without proof.
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“people are jumping too quickly to defend these mathematicians without any solid evidence of their claims”
glimshe · Hacker News ↗
The bigger story is an 'overhang' of unrealized low-hanging fruit in math that AI can harvest fast — real progress questions matter more than credit disputes.
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“The Overhang consists of the unrealized capital gains of past mathematical creativity, the latent value from connecting the dots in the existing corpus.”
kzz102 · Hacker News ↗
Tristan Buckmaster NYU mathematics professorLevent Alpöge Mathematician, Buckmaster's collaboratorAndreas Thom MathematicianOpenAI AI companyJames Robinson Mathematician, University of Warwick
How it unfolded 8 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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Buckmaster releases statement disputing OpenAI's account
Tristan Buckmaster publishes a formal statement detailing his and Alpöge's interactions with OpenAI, saying the company would not directly answer when its first prompt referencing their work was sent; The Verge separately reports mathematicians describing the AI labs' rivalry as 'childish.'
“I asked when the first prompt had been sent by them. This question was not answered directly by OpenAI for some time.”
— Tristan Buckmaster -
first by Daring Fireball, 12d ago
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https://www. theguardian.com/science/2026/s ep/12/openai-mathematicians-millennium-prize-problem . "Prof James Robinson, a mathematician at the # University of # Warwick , said... 'It’s frustrating to see these big # tech # companies burning this fuel up just so that they can show off about how great their latest model is... It seems like immature…
2 more of the top 3 · 12 posts in this stretch
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12/12 Source list techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/o... openai.com/index/navier... openai.com/api/pricing/ help.
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They are all based on neural networks and it turns out that LLMs are good at anything that can be tokenised. This is not about language any more and LLMs are increasingly good at work with images, proteins, sound, DNS, sensor output, etc. If you think there is some kind of "but this is just language models" gotcha from 2004, think again.
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OpenAI claims its model cracked the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize
OpenAI announces its model solved the century-old Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem; mathematicians, already unsettled by the credit disputes, call the announcement premature and self-serving.
“It seems like immature playground boasting writ large, underpinned by billions of dollars & the potential for significant environmental damage…”
— Prof James Robinson -
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“if frontier labs see a useful path to a discovery, they can spend tens of millions of dollars using LLMs to beat the original researchers to a proof — a dynamic that will incentivize secrecy”
2 more of the top 3 · 10 posts in this stretch
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OpenAI just wants to win https://www. theverge.com/ai-artificial-int elligence/994255/openai-millennium-prize-problem-tristan-buckmaster-competition?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Tech News @ tech-news-theverge
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What's interesting is that my company has developed SO many AI tools in the past year, and I was tasked with using a bunch of them as part of my workflow and to evaluate them from my experience. Some tools are annoying. Some tools are wildly good and useful. Some tools really do help reduce something that would take a few weeks down to a few…
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Mathematicians say OpenAI's methods are corroding the field
The Economist reports top mathematicians outraged by OpenAI's methods, while other mathematicians and commentators warn the dynamic discourages young people from entering the field.
“Mathematicians are unhappy about OpenAI. The gist of their argument is that they form a community that trains young people.”
— @lemire -
2 outlets first by HN Frontpage, 13d ago · also The Economist · read ↗
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OpenAI says it's no longer sponsoring Caltech's math hackathon, where participants use AI to solve research problems, following criticism of "slop mathematics" (Truman Dickerson/Business Insider) https://www. businessinsider.com/openai-cal tech-ai-math-hackathon-backlash-anthropic-2026-9 http://www. techmeme.com/260911/p13#a26091 1p13
2 more of the top 3 · 21 posts in this stretch
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meanwhile, 25 Fields Medal-winning mathematicians are calling out AI for threatening their work and culture
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The researcher in the link [0] says that OpenAI offered to co write with him the paper about Navier Stokes theorem if he only agrees to not include his co researcher who was also working on this. I find this highly unethical by multi billion dollar organisations to arm twist small and big researchers like this.[0]
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OpenAI drops sponsorship of Caltech's AI math hackathon
After an open letter from Caltech mathematicians warning of 'destructive impacts,' OpenAI withdraws as sponsor of a hackathon where participants use AI to attack research problems, amid criticism of 'slop mathematics.'
“is likely to have destructive impacts for the mathematical community…”
— Caltech mathematicians -
first by NYT, 14d ago · also Understanding AI, NYT Science
1 more headline
- OpenAI spent millions to solve this famous math problem — mathematicians are furious Understanding AI · 14d ago
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first by Mastodon, 13d ago · also Gizmodo
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I think OpenAI and Anthropic are slowly feeling the pressure to GET SOME $$ or a plan for some $$ — they need to somehow generate some NETWORK EFFECTS and LOCK-IN. Without that there's no stability: selling ad hoc one-offs is much much too quaint! This is dawning on them like it dawned on Google when they stopped not being evil. Need... to…
2 more of the top 3 · 30 posts in this stretch
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“He published a public statement this week accusing the AI company of trying to gazump him and his research partner Levent Alpöge, from # OpenAI 's rival # Anthropic , after hearing they were close to solving the problem. Professor Buckmaster also said the company offered to let write up their solution if he took his partner's name off the…
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OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician | TechCrunch
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Mathematicians demand proof OpenAI did not use their private work
A second mathematician accuses OpenAI of 'dishonesty' about its training data as reporting spreads across outlets questioning where OpenAI's math breakthroughs actually come from.
“since the completion of Navier-Stokes, we have made substantial progress on another Millennium Prize problem…”
— OpenAI, AI company, via NYT · source -
2 outlets first by HN Frontpage, 14d ago · also The Verge · read ↗
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first by HN Best, 15d ago · also HN Frontpage
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This essentially confirms that OpenAI will soon have officially solved the next Millennium Problem. The rumors were true. Via New York Times “In addition, since the completion of Navier-Stokes, we have made substantial progress on another Millennium Prize problem. We are
2 more of the top 3 · 24 posts in this stretch
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On your second point: there is a more plausible explanation which David Bessis calls the "overhang". The short version is that there is a large amount of relatively low hanging fruits in mathematics, because no human has broad enough knowledge and enough time to try them all. AI is not constraint by that, and therefore can systematically pluck all…
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An N.Y.U. Mathematician Clashed With OpenAI Over a $1 Million Proof https://www. nytimes.com/2026/09/10/science /tristan-buckmaster-openai-math-navier-stokes.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Most Emailed @ most-emailed-newyorktimes
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OpenAI confirms progress on a second Millennium Prize problem
Following NYT reporting on the Buckmaster clash, OpenAI states it has made substantial progress on another Millennium Prize problem beyond the completed Navier-Stokes work, confirming earlier rumors.
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1 outlet first by New York Times, 14d ago · read ↗
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The whole "OpenAI uses mathematicians' prompts to claim their models solved maths problems" seems to be a pattern... (Article title: Mathematicians want proof OpenAI didn’t use their work) https://www. theverge.com/ai-artificial-int elligence/993263/where-does-openai-get-mathematics-training-data
2 more of the top 3 · 30 posts in this stretch
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This is the second wake up call.Big AI companies (all of Big IT Tech really) are in data gathering and processing business. Also known as “intelligence”.Their final “product” is not just a standalone ML model. They don’t need your data just to “improve their products and services”. They build a whole ecosystem and infrastructure around gathering…
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"OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician"
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Andreas Thom accuses OpenAI of training on his private work too
Mathematician Andreas Thom presents evidence on Mastodon suggesting OpenAI trained its Astra system on conversations he and Gábor Kun had while working on the non-sofic groups problem, widening the scandal beyond Buckmaster's case.
“BREAKING: OpenAI might have stolen another major proof.”
— @ValerioCapraro -
BREAKING: OpenAI might have stolen another major proof. In a detailed Mastodon post, which I report in full in the comments, Andreas Thom presents several pieces of evidence suggesting that OpenAI may have trained Astra on conversations in which he and Gábor Kun were working on
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ReportOpenAI accused of using private Codex chats on Navier-Stokes
Coverage surfaces claiming OpenAI mined mathematicians Tristan Buckmaster's and Levent Alpöge's private Codex sessions to get ahead on a Navier-Stokes proof, the first public airing of the dispute.
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Lmao wtf, OpenAI is threatening mathematicians like the mafia. “Nice career, shame if something happened to it”
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Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by CBC, 12d ago · also The Verge
1 more headline
- OpenAI just wants to win Mastodon · 12d ago
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first by Guardian Science, 12d ago · also The Guardian
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2 outlets Racing to solve maths problems now ‘pointless’, says Australian at centre of OpenAI controversy
first by ABC, 13d ago · also The Week
1 more headline
- The controversy over OpenAI's maths miracle The Week · 13d ago
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2 outlets OpenAI Claims Another Huge Mathematical Result Amid Fights Over Credit, Ethics, and Privacy
first by SingularityHub, 13d ago · also The Conversation
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first by NYT, 14d ago · also NYT Science
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first by HN Best, 14d ago · also HN Frontpage
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first by ABC Australia, 14d ago · also ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
and 10 smaller pieces
What people are saying 9 voices from 4 sites · best of 129 · verbatim
- Was the model actually trained on the researchers' private prompts, or did it independently converge on the same approach?
- Should AI-assisted or AI-derived proofs credit the human researchers whose unpublished work informed them, and how would that even be verified?
- Sep 12
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OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician | TechCrunch
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Not really, when the claim at issue is what mathematicians think , citing mathematicians is direct evidence, not an appeal to authority. Both of you are just arguing prevalence, and 25 > 1. The actual weak spot is that nobody claimed unanimity, and taking a job isn't an endorsement.
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Twenty-five leading mathematicians signed an open letter arguing that AI labs are threatening their intellectual work. #Techcrunch #breakingnews #news #othur
- Sep 11
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RE: https:// mathstodon.xyz/@andreasthom/11 7240535270608201 We can assume unreleased models under active development are being trained and retrained constantly, that's what developing them means, so they are exposed to new data that enters the training set. The high capacities of these models mean that they are absolutely capable of reproducing…
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RE: https:// mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1172536299 67855195 Elements of this declaration on mathematics and AI remind me that, in science, an accurate prediction of the behavior/state of a system in the absence of an explanation might be practically useful, but it is intellectually (scientifically) worthless. See also the “problem (fallacy) of induction”…
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Tech crunch doesn’t mince words: open ai gebruikte (of liever jatte) bestaande kennis en besteedde 22 miljoen dollar om sneller te kunnen publiceren dan de menselijke wetenschappers.
- Sep 10
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> Provenance is hard to trackRight, which is going to open a lot of doors to a lot of questions.I don't think there's any legal ramifications on this, just ethical ones about when and how you publish research, but it's yet another point in favor of "if provenance is hard to track, should we be using this for things where it needs to be".Obviously…
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These can all be true at once:1. OpenAI's internal model benefited from the reasoning in Alpöge and Buckmaster's Codex sessions through de-identified usage data.2. OpenAI's model seems to have surpassed Alpöge and Buckmaster's results and produced a field-defining proof. If verified, this work would be the first AI resolution of a Millennium Prize…
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I think it's a useful analogy to compare OpenAI to a human collaborator. These researchers willingly collaborated with an OpenAI model, giving it ideas, and OpenAI provided useful replies. Then, OpenAI goes ahead and publishes work along the lines of this collaboration, without attributing the researchers. If OpenAI was in fact a human researcher…