OpenAI Is Pissing Off a Bunch of Mathematicians--Again

"There's a perception of mobster behavior" from leading AI companies, one mathematician tells WIRED as OpenAI prepares to release more than 100 new solutions to unsolved problems. In August, OpenAI convened around 40 mathematicians to discuss what to do if AI outpaces human capabilities in the field. The company hinted that its powerful models had solved hundreds of long-standing math problems, say people who were in attendance, but company representatives assured attendees it would not release the solutions all at once--an assurance OpenAI spokesperson Lindsay McCallum says the company is "not aware of"--and, worried by how the community might react, sought advice on how to publish the findings. Attendees responded with "a mixture of excitement and dread," but the meeting was a promising first step, recalls Northwestern University mathematician Bryna Kra. The group, she tells WIRED, asked the firm not to just publish them in a blog or tweet, like they had done with 10 problems earlier that month .