OpenAI's millennium proof dispute raises the question of whether researchers can trust AI labs
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A dispute has erupted between mathematician Tristan Buckmaster and OpenAI over an AI-generated solution to the Navier-Stokes Millennium Problem. Buckmaster accused OpenAI of using drafts he and co-author Levent Alpöge uploaded to Codex, pressuring him, and excluding Alpöge because he works at Anthropic. OpenAI, including CEO Sam Altman and researcher Sébastien Bubeck, denies plagiarism but admits it cannot rule out that user data improved its models. OpenAI says it acted after hearing rumors that Anthropic's models had solved a Millennium Problem, while Altman insists the team acted with integrity. Alpöge disputes Altman's claim that he was unwilling to cooperate, saying he would have welcomed collaboration. Mathematician Terence Tao warns the incident may discourage researchers from sharing promising work, potentially reversing centuries of open science tradition.
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