OpenAI Is Pissing Off a Bunch of Mathematicians—Again
“There’s a perception of mobster behavior” from leading AI companies, one mathematician tells WIRED as OpenAI prepares to release more than 100 new solutions to unsolved problems.
Mathematicians are growing increasingly frustrated with OpenAI's handling of AI-generated mathematical solutions. At a recent meeting, attendees expressed a mix of excitement and apprehension, with Northwestern University mathematician Bryna Kra recalling that the group requested OpenAI to publish papers explaining the work, rather than just posting results on social media.
However, Kra claims that this input was ignored, and OpenAI plans to release hundreds of solutions on GitHub later that week. The impending output is seen as a sign that OpenAI and its rival Anthropic have learned little from previous controversies. Some mathematicians believe the company is acting more like a "mobster" with AI, accumulating power and casting aside traditional scientific processes for releasing and attributing results.
OpenAI has formed an advisory group to determine how it assesses and communicates new results, but mathematicians claim little progress has been made. Some have created tools to help the community use and verify AI-generated results, but OpenAI has not changed its behavior or aligned with the Leiden declaration, a call for AI companies to meet mathematicians' standards.
Written by urgent.news from Wired Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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