Show Notes
The first Millennium Prize, Navier-Stokes, has fallen to AI.
A deeply unfortunate situation has arisen involving what should have been some combination of a positive story about new progress in AI-assisted mathematical research and yet another opportunity to freak out about rapid AI progress.
Or, as we call it around here, Tuesday.
The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra
Keep your eyes on the prize. There are three stories here.
The first story is much more important than the second story, which in turn is much more important than the third story.
OpenAI's next model took a week to get a generation ahead of Astra, and they are telling us this because everyone is totally freaked out about what is happening.
Or, in official language: ‘We believe it is important to inform the world about the pace of AI progress and what to expect from upcoming models’ and that we ‘may require more deliberate choices about the pace of progress.’
This new AI has, eight days after it started training, solved Navier-Stokes.
A bunch of drama over who gets the credit [...] --- Outline: (00:31) The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra (01:47) Setting the Stage (03:47) I Heard a Rumor (04:32) Our Price Cheap (06:14) An Accusation Is Made (10:57) How Did You Get That Idea? (12:59) OpenAI Almost Certainly Did Not Misappropriate User Data (14:34) Our Top Labs Cannot Get Along Even On A Feel-Good Math Story (15:52) What Next? (16:39) The Mathematicians Are Not Happy (21:14) OpenAI's New Model Was A Step Change Above Astra Four Days Into Training (23:16) OpenAI Research Progress Is Accelerating Due To OpenAI Research Progress (30:39) Quantifying OpenAI's Pause (31:09) This Is the Way the World Ends (31:44) Quickly, There's No Time ---
First published:
September 13th, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/uoZW6BKaCcmNQrWis/brand-new-ai-solves-a-millennium-prize
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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