{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy","date":"2025-10-17","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI researchers claim GPT-5 'solved' 10 Erdős problems","deck":"The solutions were already in the literature","takeaway":"In mid-October 2025 OpenAI's Kevin Weil tweeted that GPT-5 'found solutions to 10 (!) previously unsolved Erdős problems'.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"retracted","labels":["Retracted"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"TechCrunch: OpenAI's 'embarrassing' math","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/19/openais-embarrassing-math/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"techcrunch.com"},{"n":2,"title":"The Decoder: OpenAI researcher announced a GPT-5 math breakthrough that never happened","url":"https://the-decoder.com/leading-openai-researcher-announced-a-gpt-5-math-breakthrough-that-never-happened/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"the-decoder.com"},{"n":3,"title":"Terence Tao's wiki: AI contributions to Erdős problems","url":"https://github.com/teorth/erdosproblems/wiki/AI-contributions-to-Erd%C5%91s-problems","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"github.com"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["OpenAI"],"title":"OpenAI researchers claim GPT-5 'solved' 10 Erdős problems; the solutions were already in the literature","summary":"In mid-October 2025 OpenAI's Kevin Weil tweeted that GPT-5 'found solutions to 10 (!) previously unsolved Erdős problems'. Thomas Bloom, who runs erdosproblems.com, called this 'a dramatic misrepresentation': GPT-5 had found existing papers solving problems listed as open only because he did not know of them. The tweets were deleted.","key_facts":["Claim (deleted tweet by Kevin Weil): 'GPT-5 found solutions to 10 (!) previously unsolved Erdős problems and made progress on 11 others'","Bloom: GPT-5 'found references, which solved these problems, that I personally was unaware of'","Demis Hassabis: 'This is embarrassing.' Yann LeCun also mocked the claim","What was real: GPT-5 was an effective literature-search tool, and several problems' statuses were updated"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["math","erdos","controversy","hype","literature-search"],"science":{"field":"mathematics","subfield":"combinatorics / number theory","problem":"Problems listed as 'open' on erdosproblems.com","result":"No new mathematics: GPT-5 located existing published solutions to about 10 listed problems and partial results on 11 others.","open_since":"","ai_system":["GPT-5"],"human_role":"Human researchers prompted literature search and publicised results","verification":{"key":"expert","label":"Expert-checked","text":"Checked by Thomas Bloom (site maintainer)"},"status":"retracted","shock":"A headline 'breakthrough' collapsed within hours, becoming a cautionary tale about AI maths hype."},"body_md":"## What happened\n\nOpenAI researchers publicised GPT-5 \"solutions\" to Erdős problems. The site's maintainer explained that \"open\" on his site meant only that he did not know of a solution, and that GPT-5 had surfaced old papers.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nThe episode set the standard of scepticism for later AI maths claims, and led to Tao's public wiki tracking exactly what AI contributed to each Erdős problem. It also showed the real, less glamorous value of AI literature search.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-05-20-ai-disproves-erdos-unit-distance-conjecture","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-05-20-ai-disproves-erdos-unit-distance-conjecture/","date":"2026-05-20","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI model disproves Erdős's 80-year-old unit distance conjecture","deck":null,"takeaway":"This is the moment AI crossed from solving competition problems to settling a famous open research conjecture, reshaping debate about AI's role in mathematics.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":5,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":9,"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-29","orgs":["OpenAI"]},{"id":"2025-12-08-ai-erdos-problems-wave-late-2025","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-12-08-ai-erdos-problems-wave-late-2025/","date":"2025-12-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"Genuine AI-assisted solutions to Erdős problems begin","deck":"#124 (Aristotle), #1026 (48-hour human–AI collaboration)","takeaway":"Erdős problems became the first large, public, verifiable scoreboard for AI in research mathematics, and set the stage for 2026's much larger results.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":4,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Result confirmed"]},"sources":5,"official":1,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["Harmonic","Google DeepMind","OpenAI"]}],"people":[{"id":"demis-hassabis","name":"Demis Hassabis","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/demis-hassabis/"},{"id":"yann-lecun","name":"Yann LeCun","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/yann-lecun/"},{"id":"terence-tao","name":"Terence Tao","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/terence-tao/"},{"id":"kevin-weil","name":"Kevin Weil","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/kevin-weil/"},{"id":"thomas-bloom","name":"Thomas Bloom","url":"https://postcutoff.com/person/thomas-bloom/"}],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-09-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-04"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":null,"in_training_data":true}],"short_url":null}