This is an incredible moment in this history of mathematics, computer science, physics & science with some of the hardest problems in human history being solved by AI over a period of weeks. Depending on your perspective, it's either a crisis, a triumph, or both. I don't think anyone knows for sure. We're all trying to make sense of it. I oscillate between fear/dread and optimism/excitement on a daily basis. The rate of progress is insane, including today's announcement from OpenAI of more problems solved.
To help make sense of all of it, here's my conversation with three mathematicians about this moment. Each of them is an expert in the field of each of the biggest problems solved: Navier-Stokes, quasi-Riemann hypothesis, the unique games conjecture and complexity theory more generally.
Ankur Moitra is a mathematician and theoretical computer scientist at MIT, visiting the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Steven Brunton (@eigensteve) is a mathematician and fluid dynamics expert at UW. Alex Kontorovich (@AlexKontorovich) is a mathematician at Rutgers specializing in number theory.
Anyone calling this a crisis is in my view morally rotten to the nth degree.
Oct 26, 2026 · 11:56 PM UTC
The morally rotten part is the fact that OpenAI is pretending like their tool just randomly solved Navier-Stokes on its own. It didn't. It stole data from human users that had basically solved it. OpenAI is unethical.
You can read my post and see my work on Altman's page under his t-shirt post. These guys grift and steal data. That is what they do. I don't care if I sound unhinged about it because I think they are losers.
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Those who leave this comment in a cold way do not feel anything until their expertise is impacted as well.
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My expertise is in software. It is neither "impacted" nor devalued, it is applied differently, same as for mathematicians, which is exactly my point.
Note how none of the podcast guests called this a crisis.
No job is an end in itself. If you make it that you waste talent and assign people to pointless work, which is morally rotten.
