---
id: "2026-02-14-first-proof-challenge"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-14-first-proof-challenge/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-02-14"
date_precision: day
category: science
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Result confirmed]
verification: Unverified claim
sources: 3
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-07"
---

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/2026-02-14-first-proof-challenge/

# AI solves about half of 10 unpublished research problems in the 'First Proof' challenge

Full title: 'First Proof' challenge: AI solves about half of 10 unpublished research problems set by mathematicians

Eleven mathematicians released 10 unpublished research-level problems on 5 Feb 2026 and answers on 14 Feb. DeepMind's Aletheia got 6/10 by majority expert assessment. OpenAI got at least 5 likely correct and retracted one claimed solution. Scientific American called the results 'mixed'.

## Key facts
- 10 problems from the authors' own unpublished research; answers revealed 14 Feb 2026
- Aletheia: problems 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 judged correct by majority (experts split on #8)
- OpenAI: problems 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 likely correct; retracted claim on #2

## What happened

Mathematicians created a contamination-proof test using problems from their own unpublished work, and AI labs submitted solutions within a week.

## Why it matters

It gave a cleaner measure than olympiads of whether AI can do research maths: at the time, about half the time.

## 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. [First Proof challenge](https://1stproof.org/) (1stproof.org, official)
2. [OpenAI: First Proof submissions](https://openai.com/index/first-proof-submissions/) (openai.com, official)
3. [Scientific American: First Proof is AI's toughest math test yet — the results are mixed](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-proof-is-ais-toughest-math-test-yet-the-results-are-mixed/) (scientificamerican.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-10-05: Linked the second-batch benchmark entry (June 2026)
- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-06-10: [AI systems pass 7 of 10 unpublished research problems in First Proof's second batch](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-06-10-first-proof-second-batch/index.md)
- 2026-02-11: [DeepMind's Aletheia agent and Gemini Deep Think report autonomous Erdős solutions and new physics and CS results](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-02-11-deepmind-aletheia-deep-think-science/index.md)