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OpenAI Is Pissing Off a Bunch of Mathematicians—Again
Confirmed
In Short: Mathematicians are upset with OpenAI for not publishing papers explaining its work and for allegedly scooping their research.
Mathematicians are increasingly frustrated with OpenAI over its recent advances in mathematics, particularly after the company announced it had solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the seven Millennium Prize problems.
According to WIRED, OpenAI plans to release hundreds of results it referenced in an August meeting on GitHub, but mathematicians want more transparency.
Bryna Kra, a Northwestern University mathematician, said the August meeting was a promising first step, but the field is becoming a playground for AI companies to showcase their models.
Tristan Buckmaster, a NYU mathematician, alleged that OpenAI scooped his work on the Navier-Stokes problem, claiming he was the only one working on it.
Buckmaster said OpenAI researcher Sébastien Bubeck seemed to suggest Buckmaster would be ruining his career if he threatened to tell the press about the alleged theft.
OpenAI has denied asking for Buckmaster's collaborator, Alpöge, to be excluded from any paper, but Buckmaster refused the request.
Mathematicians like Nestor Guillen of NYU say there's a perception of 'mobster behavior' from AI companies, and the field is entering a 'turbulent period' as AI outpaces human capabilities.
The push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics and the mathematical community, according to a statement by 25 Fields Medal winners.
OpenAI said it does not intend to claim the $1 million prize for solving the Navier-Stokes problem, but mathematicians are concerned about the accumulation of power in one place.
The paper detailing OpenAI's solution is 166 pages and 'almost incomprehensible,' according to David Dritschel, a mathematician at the University of St. Andrews.
Mathematicians are now grappling with the existential implications of AI's rapid advancements in their field, leading to a crisis in mathematical values and practices.
What this adds
Mathematicians are calling for more responsible and transparent practices from AI companies like OpenAI.
What's confirmed
- Mathematicians are increasingly frustrated with OpenAI over its recent advances in mathematics, particularly after the company announced it had solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the seven Millennium Prize problems.
- According to WIRED, OpenAI plans to release hundreds of results it referenced in an August meeting on GitHub, but mathematicians want more transparency.
- Bryna Kra, a Northwestern University mathematician, said the August meeting was a promising first step, but the field is becoming a playground for AI companies to showcase their models.
- Tristan Buckmaster, a NYU mathematician, alleged that OpenAI scooped his work on the Navier-Stokes problem, claiming he was the only one working on it.
- Buckmaster said OpenAI researcher Sébastien Bubeck seemed to suggest Buckmaster would be ruining his career if he threatened to tell the press about the alleged theft.
- OpenAI has denied asking for Buckmaster's collaborator, Alpöge, to be excluded from any paper, but Buckmaster refused the request.
- Mathematicians like Nestor Guillen of NYU say there's a perception of 'mobster behavior' from AI companies, and the field is entering a 'turbulent period' as AI outpaces human capabilities.
- The push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics and the mathematical community, according to a statement by 25 Fields Medal winners.
- OpenAI said it does not intend to claim the $1 million prize for solving the Navier-Stokes problem, but mathematicians are concerned about the accumulation of power in one place.
- The paper detailing OpenAI's solution is 166 pages and 'almost incomprehensible,' according to David Dritschel, a mathematician at the University of St. Andrews.
- Mathematicians are now grappling with the existential implications of AI's rapid advancements in their field, leading to a crisis in mathematical values and practices.
What's still developing
- Instead, it would be important for OpenAI to publish papers explaining the work so that mathematicians could absorb, digest, and use the results, according to Kra.
- OpenAI deployed thousands of agents to solve a legendary million-dollar Millennium Prize problem after hearing “rumors” that others were closing in on solutions.
- The pair hadn’t published their work but had been using OpenAI’s tools to help them.
- During an attempt to negotiate credit, Buckmaster claims, OpenAI researcher Sébastien Bubeck seemed to imply that Alpöge should be excluded from any paper, since that would make things complicated. (In response to a request for comment, Bubeck pointed to a previous public statement in which he denied asking for Alpöge to not be listed as an author.) Buckmaster said he refused.
- Levent must be talking to his leadership right now letting them know fucking OpenAI can get a Millennium Prize problem, he said, per the notes.
- In conversations with WIRED, the academics say they feel the field has become a playground for OpenAI and its rival Anthropic to show off their models as both prepare for blockbuster initial public offerings.
- In their rush to outdo each other, mathematicians say, traditional scientific processes for releasing and attributing results have been cast aside.
- In late July, one of the world’s most famous mathematicians issued a warning to his field.
- Math is entering a “turbulent period,” the UCLA professor Terence Tao said in front of a packed lecture hall at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
- OpenAI said its swarm of 10,000 AI agents solved the problem in less than four days.
- Although OpenAI was able to solve the Navier-Stokes problem only by pulling from nearly a century’s worth of human efforts, academics are realizing just how much power the AI industry now has over math.
- “We’re seeing how swiftly an entire field can be ravaged by AI,” Max Weinreich, a math professor at CUNY Baruch, told me.