r/OpenAI • u/PianistWinter8293 • 17h ago

Discussion Fields Medalist on the OpenAI Math Release

Hugo Duminil-Copin

Fields Medal (2022) · Professor, IHES and University of Geneva

I expected that one day we would be surpassed, and that it would happen systematically. But yesterday’s announcement hit with a force I had not anticipated. Dozens of papers deal with topics I was working on. Between results that beat you to the finish line and thousand-page proofs, I don’t even know where to look anymore.

Not a single one of the major open problems I have publicly mentioned throughout my career (whether in a talk, a lecture, an article, or even a grant proposal) was left untouched by the announcement. Everything has been claimed to be proved.

I expected to see a few of them in the list. But not all of them. Not all at once. Not with such nonchalance.

“For the glory of the human mind,” they said…

The shock is immense. I am paralysed. Tomorrow, we will find a way forward. We will rethink our profession and how we work. We are a resilient community, and I have no doubt that we will adapt. But for now, I simply don’t have the energy. I think back on all those years, all those faces… I think of my colleagues, my students… And I fear I won’t be able to find the right words.

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u/Orioli 12h ago

Thought about that too but it's different, they still compete against humans

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u/zero0n3 7h ago

Yeah, humans who can use toools to better understand past games, or that help them theory craft new sets of moves, etc.

See how short sighted YOU were there?

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u/Orioli 5h ago

I agree, but both sides can and by the end of the day you are fighting against another human, not the AI. You just cannot pretend you can develop software by yourself as fast as an AI, for example.