OpenAI’s sly mathematical breakthrough sends a chill through academia

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the G20 Innovation Ministerial. | (Photo by Matt RAMEY / AFP via Getty Images)" data-portal-copyright="(Photo by Matt RAMEY / AFP via Getty Images)" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/gettyimages-2292626872.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the G20 Innovation Ministerial. | (Photo by Matt RAMEY / AFP via Getty Images) </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">OpenAI's announcement Tuesday that it has solved one of mathematics' legendary <a href="https://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/">Millennium Prize problems</a> should have been a moment of triumph. The result is both an undeniable achievement and a striking demonstration of just how <a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/977273/the-ai-takeover-of-mathematics-has-begun">rapidly AI is transforming mathematics</a>. But before it was even formally announced, the breakthrough had been complicated by the unusual circumstances that prompted OpenAI to pursue the problem: After hearing other researchers were making progress, it seems to have thrown its considerable resources into a last-minute effort to beat them to the punch. The ensuing controversy has surfaced allegations of scooping, spying …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/992953/openai-math-millennium-prize-navier-stokes">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>