{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute/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":"2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute","date":"2025-12-01","date_precision":"month","short_title":"Physics Letters B paper built on a GPT-5 idea draws criticism that it tests the wrong thing","deck":null,"takeaway":"Physicist Steve Hsu published a Physics Letters B paper whose main idea, applying the Tomonaga–Schwinger formalism to test state-dependent (nonlinear) quantum mechanics, came from GPT-5.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":2,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"disputed","labels":["Disputed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"The Decoder: Physicist Steve Hsu publishes research built around a core idea generated by GPT-5","url":"https://the-decoder.com/physicist-steve-hsu-publishes-research-built-around-a-core-idea-generated-by-gpt-5/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"the-decoder.com"},{"n":2,"title":"Oppenheim rebuttal (arXiv 2512.07809)","url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.07809","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"arxiv.org"},{"n":3,"title":"Peter Woit: Theoretical Physics Slop","url":"https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=15362","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"math.columbia.edu"}],"official":0,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["Michigan State University","OpenAI"],"title":"Physics Letters B paper built on a GPT-5 idea draws criticism that it tests the wrong thing","summary":"Physicist Steve Hsu published a Physics Letters B paper whose main idea, applying the Tomonaga–Schwinger formalism to test state-dependent (nonlinear) quantum mechanics, came from GPT-5. He called it the 'first research article in theoretical physics in which the main idea came from an AI'. Jonathan Oppenheim argued the criterion detects nonlocality rather than nonlinearity, and Peter Woit called it 'Theoretical Physics Slop'.","key_facts":["Claim (Hsu): 'first research article in theoretical physics in which the main idea came from an AI'","Rebuttal: Oppenheim, arXiv 2512.07809","Peer-reviewed publication did not prevent a substantive correctness dispute"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["physics","quantum-mechanics","gpt-5","controversy"],"science":{"field":"physics","subfield":"foundations of quantum mechanics","problem":"Testing nonlinear modifications of quantum mechanics","result":"Published criterion proposed by GPT-5; critics argue it does not test what it claims.","open_since":"","ai_system":["GPT-5"],"human_role":"Human-led; AI supplied the main idea","verification":{"key":"peer-review","label":"Peer-reviewed","text":"Peer-reviewed in Physics Letters B; disputed by experts"},"status":"disputed","shock":""},"body_md":"## What happened\n\nA physicist credited GPT-5 with the core idea of a peer-reviewed paper, and other physicists argued the idea was flawed.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nIt is a cautionary example: AI-originated ideas can pass peer review and still be wrong or misframed.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-02-13-gpt-5-2-single-minus-gluon-amplitudes","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-13-gpt-5-2-single-minus-gluon-amplitudes/","date":"2026-02-13","date_precision":"day","short_title":"GPT-5.2 conjectures, and an OpenAI model proves, that 'single-minus' gluon tree amplitudes are nonzero","deck":null,"takeaway":"It is a showcase of LLMs as conjecture engines in theoretical physics, though critics dispute its physical significance and the AI's share of the insight.","category":"science","category_label":"Science & math","importance":3,"confidence":"medium","status":{"key":"disputed","labels":["Disputed"]},"sources":4,"official":2,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["OpenAI","Institute for Advanced Study","Harvard University","University of Cambridge","Vanderbilt University"]}],"people":[],"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}