AI could crack Navier-Stokes on its own — and add almost no value to math
NathanpmYoung · x · 2026-09-06
Quoting a mathematician's thought experiment: an autonomous AI harness backed by enormous compute could internally iterate its way to a final ansatz — and thus a solution to the Navier-Stokes regularity problem — with the AI company keeping the process almost entirely out of public view. One of mathematics' most prominent open problems would technically be solved, yet almost no value would be added to mathematics itself.
The poster raises the resulting tension for mathematicians: is the point the intrinsic beauty of math, or being first? As AI advances, that whack-a-mole distinction becomes sharply uncomfortable.
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