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What mathematicians are calling “destructive,” OpenAI calls “disruptive.”
OpenAI research lead Dan Roberts tweeted on Thursday that the firm would be yanking its sponsorship of the Caltech Mathathon, an upcoming event where 100 teams of mathematicians will compete to provide the best answer to the question, “How can we responsibly use AI tools to augment human understanding of mathematics?”
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As Business Insider noted, this week a group of current and former Caltech mathematicians dropped an open letter arguing AI firms have “advanced a campaign of scientific misinformation about the goals of mathematical research” in order to advertise AI products. The letter added AI-driven “slop mathematics” effectively constitute research misconduct, as it consumes the work of research mathematicians and uses it to scoop them on solutions without contributing to understanding. The Mathathon in particular would have “destructive impacts for the mathematical community,” it warned.
That coincided with OpenAI’s claim this week that it had solved the Navier-Stokes Problem, a longstanding question on predicting the movement of fluids. Not only have mathematicians disputed OpenAI’s solution, the announcement triggered a dispute with NYU mathematician Tristan Buckmaster and Anthropic’s Levent Alpöge. The duo openly speculated whether OpenAI had learned they were nearing a breakthrough and somehow appropriated their work via training data.
25 more prominent mathematicians signed another open letter criticizing AI this week as the feud continued to escalate. It’s safe to say that OpenAI is not exactly winning the hearts and minds of the mathematical community, which is now experiencing what it’s like to be on the bleeding edge of existential apocalypse.
We recognize that the rapid progress of AI in mathematics is disruptive. We’re looking to engage with the math community more on the best way to integrate this technology and communicate its impacts. After considering concerns raised by members of the mathematics community, we’ve…
— Dan Roberts (@danintheory) September 10, 2026
Roberts’ announcement characterized the dispute in OpenAI-friendly terms: “We recognize that the rapid progress of AI in mathematics is disruptive.” That’s certainly one way of putting it!
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Each team that participates in the Mathathon will get 40 hours and $20,000 in tokens to come up with their solution; the first round begins on October 30th. OpenAI and Anthropic had promised to collectively donate $2 million in credits.
In a statement to Gizmodo, a Mathathon spokesperson wrote that “OpenAI specifically sponsored 10k of the 20k,” adding they are “currently in talks with other firms who are willing to provide a similar amount per team as well.”
“We do not anticipate that this will affect the event in any substantial way,” the spokesperson added.
Update: 9:11 p.m. ET on Sept. 11, 2026: This article has been updated with a statement from the Caltech Mathathon organizers.
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