Did OpenAI Solve the Wrong Navier-Stokes Problem? Experts Cry Loophole
joshgans · x · 2026-09-22
Scientific American reports that OpenAI's claimed solution to the Navier-Stokes problem—potentially worth the Clay Mathematics Institute's $1-million prize—may have solved the wrong problem entirely.
The proof, generated by an internal LLM, takes an approach many experts find unnatural: it exploits an external forcing term to break the Navier-Stokes equations, effectively solving a variant disconnected from physical reality. Critics say the LLM found and exploited a loophole in how the question was framed.
University of Chicago mathematician Luis Silvestre: "The Clay problem is settled, but the main problem for the Navier-Stokes equations is not." Economist Joshua Gans added that anyone who has worked intensively with LLMs would be unsurprised—they excel at finding the easiest path to a solution.
More from Models
- Grok 4.7 lands: near Opus 5 on AA-Briefcase at ~50% cost per task — NicoVerderosa · 2026-09-22
- Whittle distills on HF: 27B-A3B MoE quant claimed to run on 8GB VRAM laptops — depressedclassical · 2026-09-22
- Developer paying $500/month says Claude quota cuts mean he can't work a full 8-hour day anymore — TejasKumar_ · 2026-09-22
- Gemini mistakes "someone wants to kill me" for self-harm, spams suicide hotlines — WideImagination8644 · 2026-09-22
- User presses Claude Code lead on whether usage resets will actually be banked — Angaisb_ · 2026-09-22
- Anthropic's 'Constitution' Is Just RLAIF, Argues Researcher — Its Real Benefit Is Cutting Human Labeling — WillRinehart · 2026-09-22