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Mathematicians Form Group to Advise OpenAI on AI's Role in Math
Confirmed
In Short: Eminent mathematicians have formed the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AGMAI) to advise OpenAI on its use of AI in solving major math problems.
On September 21st, an independent group of prominent mathematicians, including Fields Medalist Terence Tao, announced the formation of the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AGMAI) in a guest post on Tao's blog.
The group was formed in response to OpenAI's recent announcement that it had potentially solved the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems.
Mathematicians are concerned about the implications of AI-generated solutions in mathematics, particularly regarding the integrity and originality of such proofs.
According to The Verge, the AGMAI receives no financial, technical, or other support from OpenAI and operates independently.
One mathematician advising OpenAI expressed frustration with the company's approach, noting that OpenAI's announcements have often been rushed and poorly communicated.
OpenAI claims it does not intend to claim the $1 million prize for solving the Navier-Stokes problem, emphasizing that the result is more of a milestone in AI development.
OpenAI's model reportedly used roughly 10,000 AI agents and consumed 130 billion output tokens, equivalent to about one million books of text, to generate the proof.
Mathematicians are also questioning whether OpenAI's AI model had access to or was influenced by their work, raising concerns about the transparency and ethics of AI research.
OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, told reporters that the AI's achievement is a significant milestone for AI research, potentially opening the door to solving more complex problems.
The mathematics community is closely watching how OpenAI and the AGMAI will navigate these challenges, particularly in terms of coordinating the release of mathematical discoveries and ensuring transparency.
One of the group’s primary tasks is advising OpenAI on how to handle the release of its mathematical discoveries and address concerns about AI's role in solving major math problems.
What this adds
The formation of AGMAI adds a layer of independent oversight to OpenAI's AI-driven mathematical research, addressing concerns about the company's previous handling of such breakthroughs.
Despite OpenAI's claims, mathematicians remain skeptical about the transparency and potential influence of their work on AI models.
The group's independence from OpenAI is crucial in maintaining trust within the mathematical community.
What's confirmed
- On September 21st, an assortment of eminent mathematicians announced the formation of the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence ( AGMAI ) in a guest post on the blog of UCLA mathematics professor Terence Tao, a Fields Medalist and outspoken critic of AI companies’ conduct in mathematics.
What's still developing
- While acknowledging that OpenAI approaching some mathematicians was the original impetus for its formation, he said the group receives no financial, technical, or other support from the company, and that none of its members have signed agreements restricting what they can say or do beyond standard confidentiality requirements needed to give them advanced access to research.
- “We don’t work for OpenAI, are not paid by them, and it’s totally independent,” he said.
- Nevertheless, Hairer seemed exasperated by the way OpenAI had announced the relationship.
- In a chaotic few months, OpenAI has demonstrated it can do two things with remarkable consistency: make impressive breakthroughs in mathematics, then colossally screw up announcing them.
- OpenAI’s latest attempt to repair fractured relations with a mathematical community it has repeatedly alienated is to consult a new independent advisory group of elite practitioners.
- But mathematicians speaking to The Verge, including one of the group’s members, describe a messy and confusing affair bearing many of the hallmarks of OpenAI’s previous rushed forays into mathematics, suggesting the company has learned little from its mistakes.
- OpenAI said its effort began September 1 after it heard a rumor, which it later connected to Levent Alpöge, an Anthropic employee, and Tristan Buckmaster, a math professor at NYU.
- After completing its own proof and Lean verification on September 6, OpenAI said it contacted the two researchers to offer a joint announcement, at which point it learned their work addressed a related but distinct problem — the forced Euler equations, not Navier-Stokes.
- OpenAI said the AI agents did not access the researchers' work through any means before it was released publicly, though the company said it could not rule out that de-identified data from their use of OpenAI products may have contributed to model training.
- OpenAI said it does not view the result as a culmination but as a marker of where AI development stands at this moment.
- OpenAI's model found that it can, describing a configuration in which a vortex tightens and spins ever faster — a phenomenon mathematicians refer to as finite-time blowup — while the fluid's energy stays bounded throughout.
- Before Tuesday's announcement, competing researchers challenged OpenAI's account of how the work unfolded.