Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science

Per Simon Willison's Weblog, OpenAI tested an internal version of Astra, its next major model, on ten mathematical problems unsolved for at least a decade. The model solved all of them, reportedly spending less than two thousand dollars per problem. OpenAI published Lean four formalizations of the results, along with a research paper and an LLM-generated PDF reconstructing how each proof came together. The achievement reflects what mathematician Terence Tao calls 'big mathematics'—a future where AI handles the technical work while humans focus on creative direction.

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