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Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

epoch.ai

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Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#41

Post by raincole »

himata4113 wrote: post #36
Validark wrote: post #33

I have long said I am an AI doubter until AI could print out the answers to hard problems or ones requiring tons of innovation. Assuming this is verified to be correct (not by AI) then I just became a believer. I would like to see a few more AI inventions to know for sure, but wow, it really is a new and exciting world. I really hope we use this intelligence resource to make the world better.

It's less of solving a problem, but trying every single solution until one works. Exhaustive search pretty much. It's pretty much how all the hard problems are solved by AI from my experience.

In other words, it's solving a problem.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#42

Post by himata4113 »

lsc4719 wrote: post #38
himata4113 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less of solving a problem, but trying every single solution until one works. Exhaustive search pretty much. It's pretty much how all the hard problems are solved by AI from my experience.

That's also the only way how humans solve hard problems.

Not always, humans are a lot better at poofing a solution into existence without even trying or testing. It's why we have the scientific method: we come up with a process and verify it, but more often than not we already know that it will work.

Compared to AI, it thinks of every possible scientific method and tries them all. Not saying that humans never do this as well, but it's mostly reserved for when we just throw mud at a wall and see what sticks.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#43

Post by qnleigh »

tombert wrote: post #17

I was trying to get Claude and Codex to try and write a proof in Isabelle for the Collatz conjecture, but annoyingly it didn't solve it, and I don't feel like I'm any closer than I was when I started. AI is useless! In all seriousness, this is pretty cool. I suspect that there's a lot of theoretical math that haven't been solved simply because of the "size" of the proof. An AI feedback loop into something like Isabel…

I got Gemini to find a polynomial-time algorithm for integer factoring, but then I mysteriously got locked out of my Google account. They should at least refund me the tokens.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#44

Post by kranner »

raincole wrote: post #41
himata4113 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less of solving a problem, but trying every single solution until one works. Exhaustive search pretty much. It's pretty much how all the hard problems are solved by AI from my experience.

In other words, it's solving a problem.

Bet you didn't come up with that comment by first discarding a bunch of unsuitable comments.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#46

Post by bfivyvysj »

kranner wrote: post #44
raincole wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, it's solving a problem.

Bet you didn't come up with that comment by first discarding a bunch of unsuitable comments.

How often do you self edit before submitting?

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#47

Post by virgildotcodes »

himata4113 wrote: post #42
lsc4719 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's also the only way how humans solve hard problems.

Not always, humans are a lot better at poofing a solution into existence without even trying or testing. It's why we have the scientific method: we come up with a process and verify it, but more often than not we already know that it will work. Compared to AI, it thinks of every possible scientific method and tries them all. Not saying that humans never do this as well, but it's mostly reserved for when we just throw…

More often than not, far, far, far more often than not, we do not already know that it will work. For all human endeavors, from the beginning of time.

If we get to any sort of confidence it will work it is based on building a history of it, or things related to "it" working consistently over time, out of innumerable other efforts where other "it"s did not work.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#48

Post by virgildotcodes »

kranner wrote: post #44
raincole wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, it's solving a problem.

Bet you didn't come up with that comment by first discarding a bunch of unsuitable comments.

You learned what was unsuitable over your entire life until now by making countless mistakes in human interaction.

A basic AI chat response also doesn't first discard all other possible responses.

Re: Epoch confirms GPT5.4 Pro solved a frontier math open problem

#50

Post by ozozozd »

johnfn wrote: post #13

I like to imagine that the number of consumed tokens before a solution is found is a proxy for how difficult a problem is, and it looks like Opus 4.6 consumed around 250k tokens. That means that a tricky React refactor I did earlier today at work was about half as hard as an open problem in mathematics! :)

Try the refactor again tomorrow. It might have gotten easier or more difficult.
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