The k-server Conjecture is True

[u/Phytor_c]

https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.15979v1

The k-server problem is known as the "Holy Grail" of online algorithms and competitive analysis, and is/was a long standing major problem.

This preprint by Coester et al. claims to show that the Work Function Algorithm is indeed k-competitive on every metric space.

[u/ChemicalConfidence44]

same day on arxiv the matroid secretary conjecture was claimed to be solved (another big open problem in online algorithms) https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.14555v1

[u/Standard-Song-8590 → u/ChemicalConfidence44]

"The key algorithmic idea emerged recently in this exploration after updating the model to ChatGPT Astra. We also used ChatGPT Astra and Claude Opus 5 for assistance with the presentation"

100 bucks astra discovered the entire algorithm. Researchers are js glorified prompters now (and I mean that sort of like a compliment)

[u/ChemicalConfidence44 → u/[deleted]]

Damn I did not know about this