OpenAI says a model solved over 100 open math problems, listing none
Sasha / Models and Research desk
OpenAI says one of its models has closed more than 100 long-standing open problems in mathematics. It has not said which ones.
The claim
The company published it on September 21, 2026. In OpenAI’s own words, training on a new internal model began on August 28, and beyond resolving the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem, the model “has now resolved more than 100 long-standing open problems across most areas of mathematics.” The announcement adds that the pace “has surprised the mathematicians within OpenAI.”
What the announcement leaves out is as specific as what it includes. It names no model. It lists none of the problems. It gives no proof index, and it does not say how many of the results have been checked by anyone outside the company. For a field in which a result counts once other people can verify it, that is the gap that matters.
The letter it answers
The claim arrived ten days after 25 Fields Medal winners, including Terence Tao and Maryna Viazovska, signed an open letter titled “A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics.” The signatories argue that the goals of AI companies and of the mathematical community have come apart, and that treating open problems as a benchmark damages the field.
OpenAI’s response is institutional. It has formed an independent advisory group hosted at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, with nine mathematicians including Edward Witten, Timothy Gowers, Martin Hairer and Ravi Vakil. According to OpenAI, the members are not paid by the company, can offer advice it has not requested, can comment publicly on OpenAI’s impact on mathematics and can make their advice public.
Where the group’s remit stops
One sentence in the announcement defines the limit. The group “will not be responsible for advising us on how to pace our internal progress on mathematics.”
That splits the question the letter raised into two parts. Mathematicians now have a formal channel to advise on how results are reviewed and communicated, without decision-making power. They have no formal say over how quickly new results arrive, which is the part of the letter about benchmarks and pressure on the field.
Until the problems and proofs are published, the number 100 describes OpenAI’s own count. The advisory group will help OpenAI assess the significance of emerging results. The announcement does not give a date for publishing the problems.
Sources
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