Quanta: AI is starting to crack legendary Erdős math problems
kylekabasares · x · 2026-08-04
Quanta reports that AI is starting to make real inroads on legendary Erdős problems, the deceptively simple but deep math questions posed by Paul Erdős.
- In May 2026, OpenAI said an internal model found a counterexample to the 1946 unit distance problem; humans later improved on the result.
- On August 1, OpenAI announced an unreleased model called Astra had made 10 more mathematical advances, including solutions to three additional Erdős problems.
- Mathematicians quoted in the piece describe this as a possible phase change in AI’s mathematical ability, and researchers are now studying what makes these problems uniquely tractable for models.
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