{
  "id": 6425303,
  "title": "OpenAI's breakthrough solution for the elusive Navier-Stokes problem overshadowed by plagiarism controversy — researcher says OpenAI scraped Codex session and issued career threats",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/openais-breakthrough-solution-for-the-elusive-navier-stokes-problem",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-09T12:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Tom's Hardware",
    "slug": "tom-s-hardware",
    "url": "https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/openais-breakthrough-solution-for-the-elusive-navier-stokes-problem-overshadowed-by-plagiarism-controversy-researcher-says-openai-scraped-codex-session-and-issued-career-threats"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "OpenAI's announcement of a breakthrough solution to the Navier-Stokes problem has been overshadowed by a plagiarism controversy, according to a researcher. The company claims its staff and internal models have solved the conditions of Navier-Stokes solutions set forth in the Millennium Prize Problems, which are worth a $1 million prize and eternal renown. However, the researcher, Tristan Buckmaster, and his colleague, Levent Alpöge, have been working on proving Euler's equations, a related problem, for a year. They used Anthropic Claude and OpenAI Codex as assistants, and the substantial compute time was paid by Buckmaster from his own pockets. The team's work was verified using Lean, a standardized programming language designed to verify mathematical proofs. On September 3, Alpöge revealed rumors of OpenAI working on the problem, which Buckmaster clarified was a personal collaboration between him and Alpöge. OpenAI responded that they had proven a finite-time blowup for the forced Navier-Stokes equations, but Buckmaster claims this approach was already known to his team. OpenAI allegedly offered Buckmaster two options: publish the Euler proof first or write a paper with the Navier-Stokes proof while removing Alpöge from the team. Buckmaster declined both offers, leading to a threat from OpenAI, claiming that Buckmaster's career would be ruined if he did not comply.",
  "summary": "OpenAI announced that a team using one of its internal frontier models has solved the Navier-Stokes problem. However, the announcement has been mired in controversy.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}