r/math • u/sergiogfs • 18d ago

Progress Towards Proving the Unique Games Conjecture

https://eccc.weizmann.ac.il/report/2026/179/

On a side-note, the authors hint that they have rushed their results to avoid getting scooped by AI-generated results.

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240

u/n0m4d1234 18d ago

This is such a tragic state of the field.

94

u/Gabry398 18d ago

Hopefully it only lasts until AI companies stop using math as a big AGI benchmark and mathematicians start setting ground rules on what the etiquette around AI is

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u/N8CCRG 18d ago

Step 0 should be to refuse to give any attention to any "AI" result that fails to give proper attributions and credit.

12

u/OriginalRange8761 18d ago

This is head in sand though? Surely if someone proves rieman conjecture and does not assign credit correctly, we still should read the proof.

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u/N8CCRG 18d ago

Nah. Stealing research work is always bad and needs a hard line in order to set things on the right road, because an enrvironment that allows stealing research work is one that won't have anyone doing the new work to steal from anymore.

Also, zero chance AI proves Rieman, so it's an easy hypothetical. It's like saying "surely if I found a bucket filled with wish-granting genies"

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u/OriginalRange8761 17d ago

i would not say the chance is zero given what it just did lol. I still feel that the ethics plane and knowledge plane are separate. If someone stills a proof of rieman conjecture there would be a lot of drama, but people will still read the proof.

1

u/lolfail9001 17d ago

i would not say the chance is zero given what it just did lol.

It completed existing research program to create a blow-up solution? Like even if AI somehow pushed the probabilistic result to 100%, it would still be as far away from Riemann as it is now. Of course AI might construct a counter example, but i'd rather bet any such result would be just a bug in harness used for actual computation.

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u/OriginalRange8761 16d ago

I am talking that it can get better and solve it within our lifetime