The Guardian view on AI v mathematicians: humans are still vital to the field, but tech firms refuse to see that | Editorial

OpenAI claims its agents have solved the Navier-Stokes problem. But questions remain about how useful and independent its work really is On 8 September, OpenAI claimed that its AI agents had solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the most famous and difficult challenges in mathematics. Had a human solved it, they would have collected both prize money and plaudits from their fellows.

The announcement instead ignited what some mathematicians have called an “ existential crisis ” in their field over the power of AI, and accusations that OpenAI misused human work . The maths behind Navier-Stokes is difficult to understand, but the critiques levelled by mathematicians will be familiar to artists, office workers, or anyone else concerned about AI. OpenAI’s results, like any arising from a large language model, depend on digesting work by human mathematicians. The OpenAI paper cites sources, but many believe the company didn’t give sufficient credit, especially to several mathematicians…