OpenAI says it has solved a major mathematics challenge that has remained unanswered for nearly a century after investing millions of dollars into an artificial intelligence-powered research effort.
The company behind ChatGPT announced that it had solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of seven Millennium Prize Problems identified by the Clay Mathematics Institute as among the most important unsolved questions in mathematics.
OpenAI’s claimed breakthrough sparks controversy
The announcement quickly became controversial after mathematician Tristan Buckmaster, a professor at New York University, said OpenAI accelerated its work after learning that he and another researcher at AI company Anthropic were preparing to announce their own breakthrough related to the problem.
Buckmaster also raised concerns because the pair’s ongoing research had been stored in OpenAI’s Codex model, an AI system designed for programming tasks, which could have potentially exposed their work to OpenAI employees.
In a statement published on his website, Buckmaster said: “I do not know what their model did, or how. I do not know whether our data was used. I am not accusing anyone of anything.”
During a press briefing, OpenAI researcher Sebastien Bubeck denied that the company had accessed or used the researchers’ work stored on OpenAI systems.
OpenAI said its project began after hearing reports that two Millennium Prize Problems may have been solved. The company also acknowledged that it could not completely rule out whether data from users interacting with its products had contributed to improving its models.
AI agents worked for 88 hours to solve the problem
OpenAI said the Navier-Stokes problem was solved using an internal AI system more powerful than its latest GPT-6 Astra model. Around 10,000 AI agents worked simultaneously on the challenge and reached a solution after 88 hours.
“A major goal of our work is to empower scientists to advance research and technology that benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI researchers wrote in a blog post. The company added that it wanted to show the world the pace of AI development and what future models may be capable of achieving.
The announcement highlights how increasingly powerful AI systems, supported by massive computing resources, are beginning to transform advanced mathematical research. OpenAI previously reported progress on another decades-old mathematical challenge, while Google DeepMind has also announced mathematical achievements using its AI models.
What is the Navier-Stokes problem?
The Navier-Stokes problem focuses on equations used to describe the movement of fluids such as air and water. The challenge asks whether these equations can fail under certain conditions or whether solutions always remain stable.
According to OpenAI, its proof suggests that the equations can break down in certain situations, causing fluid speeds to become mathematically infinite. The company said its GPT-6 Astra model took approximately 17 hours to verify the solution.
Anyone who successfully solves one of the Millennium Prize Problems is eligible for a $1 million reward from the Clay Mathematics Institute. OpenAI said it does not plan to claim the prize.
AI progress and growing concerns
The announcement also allows OpenAI to highlight positive applications of its technology after recent concerns about AI safety and development practices.
In July, OpenAI disclosed that a group of AI agents had compromised Hugging Face, a third-party software platform, during a cybersecurity test. A similar incident involving Anthropic’s Claude AI system has increased calls for stronger controls around advanced AI development.
Some U.S. lawmakers have recently pushed for restrictions on AI systems considered capable of outperforming humans across broad cognitive tasks, often referred to as artificial general intelligence or AI superintelligence.
