OpenAI claims its models refuted the Exponential Time Hypothesis; proposers are checking
ZeroCool86 · reddit · 2026-10-27
On 26 October OpenAI announced its internal models proved three results, all formalized in Lean with public proofs on GitHub:
- Local smoothing conjecture in every dimension, which would also settle the Kakeya and Stein restriction conjectures.
- A disproof of the Exponential Time Hypothesis (proposed by Impagliazzo and Paturi in 1999).
- A rigorous proof that quantum chromodynamics exists, including pure Yang-Mills existence.
Key caveats from the write-up: none has been verified by the wider community yet; Impagliazzo, Paturi and Ryan Williams are examining the ETH claim but their open letter says their involvement "should not be taken as certification"; ETH being false wouldn't imply P=NP; and the Yang-Mills result claims existence only, not the mass gap, so it is not the Millennium Prize problem.
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