# Mathematicians dispute credit as OpenAI claims 90-year-old math proof

_Saturday, September 12, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT · AI, Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![Mathematicians dispute credit as OpenAI claims 90-year-old math proof — Primary](https://media.wired.com/photos/6aa416744de88ba2f8bc1a31/191:100/w_1280,c_limit/Math-OpenAI-Steven.jpg)

OpenAI said it used tens of thousands of agents to solve a 90-year-old math problem carrying a $1 million prize, a result the company says still needs independent verification and which builds on a strategy by Spanish mathematicians Diego Córdoba and Luis Martínez-Zoroa.

Mathematician Tristan Buckmaster says OpenAI rushed ahead after learning of related work he did with Anthropic researcher Levent Alpöge, and that the company tried to influence credit. Cornell's Steven Strogatz told WIRED the episode reflects corporate labs racing for headlines ahead of blockbuster IPOs, and said mathematicians will not compete on breakthrough work without AI.

## Sources

- [WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/mathematician-steven-strogatz-grapples-with-ai-recent-breakthroughs/)

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Retrieved: 2026-09-12T12:57:22.118Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)