Noam Brown defends OpenAI's million-dollar Millennium Prize sprint as test-time compute costs collapse

anshulkundaje · x · 2026-09-09

The controversy over OpenAI's Navier–Stokes sprint deepens. @tylerjohnston alleges OpenAI heard rumors of a Millennium Prize breakthrough (reportedly from Anthropic, under external review), spent millions in a week-long sprint that may have scooped the authors, then considered offering Levant/Tristan co-authorship before learning they'd only solved the forced Euler problem — a key step, not the full milestone.

Noam Brown responds that while the result cost millions, o3 once needed $500,000 to score 87.5% on ARC-AGI 1 while Astra now scores higher for $20; IMO gold took enormous compute in 2025, but a $20/month ChatGPT subscription could do it for the 2026 IMO. He believes everyone will have an AI of this caliber within a year.

Related event: OpenAI Claims Navier-Stokes Breakthrough as Credit Dispute Simmers(160 posts)→

Original post →

More from Companies & People

Companies & People channel →