Sebastien Bubeck clarifies GPT-5 paper dispute, collaborator slams academia's incentive problem

DeryaTR_ · x · 2026-09-09

OpenAI researcher Sebastien Bubeck responded to controversy around the GPT-5 science case study involving a Princeton mathematician.

Bubeck says the leaked screenshot only shows him reaching out to coordinate release timing, and he never asked for Levent to be removed from authorship of his own work.
He learned during a call that the other team had only solved the Euler problem, not Navier-Stokes; options discussed included Tristan leading a rewrite of OpenAI's Navier-Stokes proof.
A collaborator on the paper publicly defended Bubeck as one of the most scientifically ethical researchers they've met, noting the accuser himself used OpenAI and Anthropic models on the same math problems.
The thread broadens into a critique of academic incentives that reward career advancement and priority over expanding knowledge.

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