OpenAI accused of racing NYU math profs on $1M problem
nyu mathematician tristan buckmaster claims openai used its computing power to rush a proof of the navier-stokes existence and smoothness problem, undermining academic norms. this dispute raises concerns about ai's role in mathematical research.
nyu mathematics professor tristan buckmaster and anthropic mathematician levent alpöge collaborated on a proof of the navier-stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of the seven millennium prize problems. they used openai's codex and claude models in their work. buckmaster claims that openai learned of their progress and quickly submitted its own proof, using a large amount of computing resources. openai's sebastian bubeck denies these claims, calling them 'false and inflammatory.' the dispute raises questions about the use of ai in mathematical research and the importance of academic integrity. buckmaster also expressed concerns that openai's use of codex interactions for training may have informed its own efforts.