Mathematician says OpenAI used his work to beat him on Navier-Stokes — and can't quit AI
emmanuelvivier · x · 2026-09-20
WIRED profiles mathematicians' love-hate relationship with AI. NYU professor Tristan Buckmaster accused OpenAI of deploying tens of thousands of agents to rush a Navier–Stokes existence-and-smoothness proof using his early workings after learning the problem was close to solved, prompting OpenAI to amend its announcement. Yet he still uses Codex and Claude daily — even to reverse-engineer how OpenAI's agents reasoned. "These companies have a monopoly, and there is not much choice," he says. The piece captures the field's core tension: powerful models are an existential risk to mathematics, yet too useful to quit.
Related event: OpenAI's Navier-Stokes Claim Draws Widespread Backlash from Mathematicians(16 posts)→
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