Two teams solve the same quantum crypto puzzle using GPT-5.6 within three hours
two researchers independently solved an unclonable encryption problem using openai's gpt-5.6 sol ultra, submitting papers just three hours apart. this collision highlights ai's growing role in accelerating research and challenges traditional notions of independent discovery.
two groups of researchers, an mit phd student and a pair of professors from uc santa barbara and ucla, independently submitted papers on 'unclonable encryption' to arxiv.org within a three-hour window. both teams relied on openai's gpt-5.6 sol ultra to solve the problem, though they took different technical approaches to the quantum-based encryption method. this near-simultaneous discovery has forced the academic community to confront the implications of ai-assisted research, specifically questioning what constitutes an independent discovery when actors use the same proprietary model. researchers noted a fundamental change in workflow, with one scientist stating his current process has 'nothing to do with' how he worked just two months ago. the event suggests a future where ai models compress the time between scientific hypothesis and solution, potentially flooding journals with ai-generated insights and redefining the value of human intuition.