OpenAI · Wired · Spain · Anthropic · Wired
In August, OpenAI announced it had made advancements in 10 other long-standing mathematical problems
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Mathematician and author Steven Strogatz starts to cry when he talks about the artificial-intelligence -driven breakthroughs in his field over the past week.
Key facts
- On Tuesday, OpenAI said it had used tens of thousands of agents to solve a 90-year-old math problem, which had a $1 million prize attached
- In August, OpenAI announced it had made advancements in 10 other long-standing mathematical problems
- Here, he reflects on what the AI breakthroughs of 2026 mean for math, mathematicians, and humanity
- Last week, Anthropic said Claude had proved 29,500 small theorems while formalizing an existing proof of the infamous Fermat’s Last Theorem—a project other mathematicians had been working on for years
Summary
“The science is thrilling,” the Cornell University professor says, “but there's a lot of human unpleasantness going with it.” On Tuesday, OpenAI said it had used tens of thousands of agents to solve a 90-year-old math problem, which had a $1 million prize attached. The rupture is a symptom of the rapid changes taking place in the field due to AI advancements and what Strogatz—who cowrote Big Math, a book about how math is slipping away from human understanding that will be out in November—describes as corporate labs’ race to grab headlines ahead of blockbuster IPOs. Last week, Anthropic said Claude had proved 29,500 small theorems while formalizing an existing proof of the infamous Fermat’s Last Theorem—a project other mathematicians had been working on for years.