---
id: "2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2025-12-01"
date_precision: month
category: science
importance: 2
confidence: medium
status: [Disputed]
verification: Peer-reviewed
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/2025-12-01-hsu-gpt-5-physics-paper-dispute/

# Physics Letters B paper built on a GPT-5 idea draws criticism that it tests the wrong thing

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

## What happened

A physicist credited GPT-5 with the core idea of a peer-reviewed paper, and other physicists argued the idea was flawed.

## Why it matters

It is a cautionary example: AI-originated ideas can pass peer review and still be wrong or misframed.

## 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. [The Decoder: Physicist Steve Hsu publishes research built around a core idea generated by GPT-5](https://the-decoder.com/physicist-steve-hsu-publishes-research-built-around-a-core-idea-generated-by-gpt-5/) (the-decoder.com, press)
2. [Oppenheim rebuttal (arXiv 2512.07809)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.07809) (arxiv.org, discussion)
3. [Peter Woit: Theoretical Physics Slop](https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=15362) (math.columbia.edu, discussion)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-02-13: [GPT-5.2 conjectures, and an OpenAI model proves, that 'single-minus' gluon tree amplitudes are nonzero](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-13-gpt-5-2-single-minus-gluon-amplitudes/index.md)