Mathematician's talk abstract scooped: student used AI to prove results and post to arXiv first

erikphoel · x · 2026-09-20

Mathematician Jeffrey Shallit relays a case: right after a mathematician posted an abstract of an upcoming talk online, a student elsewhere used AI to derive proofs of the stated results and posted them to arXiv — before the original author had even submitted there. Threads joke about a coming "dark forest": don't post or email abstracts, work in secret until proofs are done. Seen as a new way AI is upending academic publishing norms.

Related event: Student Uses AI to Beat Mathematician to Proof on arXiv(2 posts)→

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