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.
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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
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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
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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
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Terence Tao, quoted by Willison, says AI teams are depleting good open math problems, now wary of sharing directions publicly. Willison
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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
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Credit disputes over AI-assisted math proofs are widening, not settling, as labs race to claim firsts
OpenAI's Sept 8 Navier-Stokes proof, built by roughly 10,000 concurrent agents over 88 hours, credited concurrent work to NYU's Tristan Buckmaster and Anthropic's Levent Alpöge. Zvi Mowshowitz and Ethan Mollick both cited it this week; outside mathematicians still haven't verified the proof itself. Demonstrated announcement, credit contested. OpenAI · Zvi · Mollick
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OpenAI says an internal model produced 722 math papers largely unsupervised; outside reviewers haven't verified the claims. AI Weekly
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WATCHOpenAI says its models have addressed 90 of math's 500 hardest open problems
A 722-manuscript release posted October 6 claims progress or solutions across 372 major problems; OpenAI's own researcher declined to share verification details, and outside mathematicians are still checking the work. Startup Fortune · Zvi, AI #189
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Verification of OpenAI's open-math claims is lagging well behind the credit it's claiming
OpenAI's Oct 6 release claims progress on 372 open-problem families, including 90 of math's hardest 500 problems. Only 42% of the 719 manuscripts are Lean-verified; three unformalized proofs broke from one shared sign error. AGMAI, the advisory group OpenAI set up, says it doesn't endorse the process. A Hacker News mathematician who spent 24 years on Barnette's Conjecture, quoted by Simon Willison Oct 7, found his own problem listed as solved. Zvi, New Math from OpenAI · Willison, quoting Jake Boggan