Urgent.News

What's breaking now, across thousands of outlets.

AI

AI refutes 30-year-old mathematical assumption in computer science

A central tenet in computer science has apparently been disproven by OpenAI, a result that will force textbooks to be rewritten if it is confirmed

AI refutes 30-year-old mathematical assumption in computer science

OpenAI has declared three groundbreaking discoveries in mathematics, computer science and physics, with the AI models apparently disproving a 30-year-old mathematical assumption. The exponential time hypothesis (ETH), which suggests that the amount of work required to solve logical puzzles grows exponentially as the puzzles become larger, has been challenged by OpenAI's AI.

Fedor Fomin, a researcher at the University of Bergen in Norway, expressed astonishment at the finding, stating, "Nobody I know expected it." According to Leslie Goldberg from the University of Oxford, if confirmed, this breakthrough would necessitate a complete revision of several areas of algorithms and complexity. The AI has also contributed to solving a 1991 conjecture in mathematics, regarding the behavior of waves, and has proven that quantum field theories make sense mathematically.

These discoveries were announced alongside other significant mathematical and physical breakthroughs in a recent blog post.

Written by urgent.news from New Scientist's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

Read the original at newscientist.com →

More in AI

The most played AI-made browser games of October 2026

I'm Kyle, and I run Foundplay, a free discovery platform for browser games, so I have a stake in this list. Every game below plays free in a browser tab on the site where it's published, and the order…

  • Neon Intercept leads with 7,941 plays, a courier chase in a neon cyber city.
  • World of Claudecraft ranks second with 3,641 plays, a multiplayer browser MMO.
  • Gameer AI game maker dominates with three top games, all phone-compatible.

More from Tuesday 27 October →