OpenAI and NYU Professor Clash Over AI-Assisted Math Problem Solution

A dispute has emerged between NYU math professor Tristan Buckmaster and OpenAI regarding progress on the Navier-Stokes problem, a complex mathematical challenge with a $1 million prize. Buckmaster announced advancements made with the help of AI models, including those from OpenAI, but less than 24 hours later, OpenAI proposed what it claims is a full solution.

Buckmaster detailed a tense exchange with OpenAI, suggesting the company proposed coordinating announcements and excluding his collaborator, Levent Alpöge, who works for Anthropic. OpenAI computer scientist Sebastien Bubeck denied asking for Alpöge to be removed from authorship. Buckmaster stated OpenAI acknowledged working on the problem after learning of his research, assuring him that user data was not directly accessed.

OpenAI published its solution, asserting it was developed independently and differed from Buckmaster and Alpöge's approach. However, the company could not definitively rule out that de-identified data from user interactions might have contributed to model improvements. This situation highlights concerns about intellectual property and the potential for AI companies to leverage users' ideas, similar to issues raised in Apple's trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI.