Math Professor Accuses OpenAI ... Note
Slashdot

Math Professor Accuses OpenAI of Copying His Work, Says AI Compute Power Makes Racing to Publish 'Pointless'

OpenAI announced its AI model, Astra, solved a century-old math problem, Navier-Stokes, in 88 hours. However, NYU professor Tristan Buckmaster alleges OpenAI may have copied his work after a collaboration request. Buckmaster and Levent Alpöge, an Anthropic researcher, used AI to solve a related Euler problem. OpenAI then approached them to jointly announce their solution to Navier-Stokes, claiming independent discovery. Buckmaster questioned the timing, noting OpenAI's solution appeared only after they learned of his work. He asked if OpenAI's AI was trained on his research but received no clear answer. OpenAI stated no user data was incorporated but couldn't rule out anonymized data use. Buckmaster criticized OpenAI's ethics, especially regarding Alpöge's Anthropic affiliation. An OpenAI scientist, Sebastien, allegedly pressured Buckmaster to remove Alpöge's authorship and threatened his career. Buckmaster expressed dismay at AI companies' disrespect for the scientific community and the futility of traditional mathematical publishing. He urged a discussion on new guidelines for mathematical research in the AI era. Buckmaster also highlighted the risk of centralizing resources in a few foreign companies. He now prioritizes rethinking the nature of mathematics over pursuing new breakthroughs.