Math models may have been enough to find Jacobian-style counterexamples all along
dyamins · x · 2026-07-21
The author asks whether it has long been obvious that math models can find the kind of counterexample behind the Jacobian conjecture result.
Their argument is that automated tools are naturally good at exhaustively checking simple conditions and pruning infinite search spaces with constraints, while humans often avoid this kind of tedious work. The real surprise, they suggest, is not that a model could help find a counterexample, but that people spent so much effort building theory while still trying to prove the conjecture without enough automated search.
Related event: AI Overturns Multiple Math Conjectures, Sparking Heated Debate(13 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- GiveDirectly pilots an optional AI chatbot alongside cash aid in Rwanda — NathanpmYoung · 2026-10-27
- Ex-Anthropic employee essay: the org optimizes for power 'constrained by being seen as the good guys' — RichardMCNgo · 2026-10-27
- Investor: model version numbers are a mirage, only datacenter margins are real — StewartalsopIII · 2026-10-27
- WSJ Op-Ed: For Anthropic Share Offering Investors, a 10% Extinction Chance May Be a 90% Portfolio Win — davidmanheim · 2026-10-27
- WSJ: for Anthropic investors, a 10% extinction chance may still be a 90% portfolio win — peterwildeford · 2026-10-27
- Simile, the AI human-simulation startup, raises $300M+ at $2B valuation with 85%+ behavior prediction — joon_s_pk · 2026-10-27