---
id: "2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2025-10-17"
date_precision: day
category: science
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Retracted]
verification: Expert-checked
sources: 3
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-10-17-gpt-5-erdos-problems-controversy/

# OpenAI researchers claim GPT-5 'solved' 10 Erdős problems

Full title: OpenAI researchers claim GPT-5 'solved' 10 Erdős problems; the solutions were already in the literature

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

## What happened

OpenAI 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.

## Why it matters

The 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.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): in its training data
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): in its training data
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): in its training data
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): in its training data

## Sources

1. [TechCrunch: OpenAI's 'embarrassing' math](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/19/openais-embarrassing-math/) (techcrunch.com, press)
2. [The Decoder: OpenAI researcher announced a GPT-5 math breakthrough that never happened](https://the-decoder.com/leading-openai-researcher-announced-a-gpt-5-math-breakthrough-that-never-happened/) (the-decoder.com, press)
3. [Terence Tao's wiki: AI contributions to Erdős problems](https://github.com/teorth/erdosproblems/wiki/AI-contributions-to-Erd%C5%91s-problems) (github.com, discussion)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-05-20: [OpenAI model disproves Erdős's 80-year-old unit distance conjecture](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-05-20-ai-disproves-erdos-unit-distance-conjecture/index.md)
- 2025-12-08: [Genuine AI-assisted solutions to Erdős problems begin](https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-12-08-ai-erdos-problems-wave-late-2025/index.md)
- People: [Demis Hassabis](https://postcutoff.com/person/demis-hassabis/), [Yann LeCun](https://postcutoff.com/person/yann-lecun/), [Terence Tao](https://postcutoff.com/person/terence-tao/), [Kevin Weil](https://postcutoff.com/person/kevin-weil/), [Thomas Bloom](https://postcutoff.com/person/thomas-bloom/)