ResearchOpenAI

OpenAI models make three scientific discoveries

Original title: Working with academic communities to build scientific understanding

Plain language

What it is: OpenAI announced three scientific discoveries in mathematics, computer science, and physics made by its AI models. The company is partnering with academic experts to help the scientific community verify, explain, and build on these results.
How it works: OpenAI is testing different ways to share the data, such as releasing the AI outputs publicly or forming expert groups to analyze them. These collaborations are voluntary, unpaid, and independent, and OpenAI does not claim academic credit for the discoveries.
Where it is available: The natural language writeups and Lean mathematical proofs for the math and computer science results are available in OpenAI's public GitHub repository. The physics group has chosen to write up their findings before releasing the AI files.
Example: One discovery shows that a long-held computer science theory called the Exponential Time Hypothesis is false, which could help researchers find faster algorithms.

What it is: OpenAI released AI-generated discoveries in harmonic analysis, computational complexity, and quantum field theory, verified using the Lean theorem prover. The company is collaborating with academic groups to evaluate three different release and verification strategies.
How it works: For the math and computer science results, OpenAI published the natural language proofs and Lean formalizations to GitHub. For the physics result, an external group of physicists is analyzing the data before any public release of the AI artifacts.
Where it is available: The code and proofs for the math and computer science discoveries are hosted on OpenAI's public GitHub repository. OpenAI is also funding independent research through a contribution to the Simons Foundation and sponsoring academic conferences.
Example: The AI produced a proof of the local smoothing conjecture in all dimensions, which resolves the Kakeya conjecture and Stein's restriction conjecture.

The headline and explanation on this page are based on OpenAI's post. The full details are in the original.

Working with academic communities to build scientific understanding