OpenAI preprint claims 3-SAT solvable in sub-exponential time, challenging ETH
cephaloform · x · 2026-10-27
A retweet points to the SubexponentialSAT project in Vladimir Reshetnikov's ProveIt GitHub repo, which collects claims that 3-SAT (and more generally #k-SAT) can be solved in time 2^{o(n)}. If true, this would refute the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) of Impagliazzo and Paturi.
- Core material: an OpenAI preprint, The Exponential Time Hypothesis is False (Oct 25, 2026), with 34 research packets building on its arguments.
- Major caveat: nothing has been formally verified — no Lean or Rocq development exists, and no packet claims an end-to-end SAT solver or a measured speedup.
- The retweeter quips: "look how the coefficients are shrinking in 3SAT."
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