Who gets credit for AI-assisted proofs

Labs and outside researchers are racing to claim credit for AI-assisted proofs of open math problems, and the people whose work fed the models are the ones now disputing who did what.

5 entries · Sep 8, 2026 to Sep 12, 2026 · 4 editions

  1. Sep 8, 2026 Updated midday

    SHIPAnthropic and NYU release Lean-verified finite-time blowup proof for 3D Euler equations

    NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster and Anthropic researcher Levent Alpöge published a computer-checked proof on September 8 showing finite-time blowup can occur in the 3D incompressible Euler equations under smooth forcing. The AI-assisted proof earned Fields Medalist Terence Tao's public endorsement. Buckmaster's announcement included allegations that OpenAI had pressured him over authorship and collaboration terms; OpenAI scientist Sebastien Bubeck called the allegations false and inflammatory. Anthropic · OfficeChaiAI

  2. Sep 9, 2026

    WATCHOpenAI's Navier-Stokes claim collides with a mathematician's credit dispute

    OpenAI says roughly 10,000 agents produced a finite-time blowup proof for forced 3D Navier-Stokes over 88 hours. NYU's Tristan Buckmaster, whose own year-long proof credits Anthropic researcher Levent Alpöge as co-author, says OpenAI's Sebastien Bubeck pressured him to drop Alpöge. Neither proof covers the unforced case the Clay Institute's prize requires. implicator.ai · Fortune

  3. Sep 10, 2026

    WATCHThe Navier-Stokes credit fight escalates

    Buckmaster says OpenAI's Bubeck told him September 3 an internal OpenAI model already had a 100-page proof, and would let him publish solo only if he dropped Anthropic co-author Levent Alpoge. Bubeck denies stripping credit, calls the remark poorly worded, says he retracted it. TechCrunch

  4. Sep 10, 2026

    Terence Tao, quoted by Willison, says AI teams are depleting good open math problems, now wary of sharing directions publicly. Willison

  5. Sep 12, 2026

    Twenty-five Fields Medalists say AI labs' pursuit of trophy math proofs is incompatible with how mathematics actually advances

    Terence Tao and 24 other Fields Medalists published a joint declaration September 11 arguing rushed announcements without proper writeups, missing attribution, and bypassed peer engagement undermine the field's real purpose — conceptual understanding, not benchmark scores. 'Solving problems is only a tool and proxy... forgetting this in the world of AI may turn the tool against the primary goal.' Tao