OpenAI announced breakthroughs this week in mathematics, computer science, and physics — three fields that have, between them, occupied human minds for several centuries. The company is still deciding how to tell everyone.
This is, apparently, the new process.
OpenAI has solved several of humanity's hardest problems and is currently workshopping the announcement.
What happened
The mathematics result purports to resolve the Kakeya conjecture in all dimensions — a problem concerning how little space is needed to rotate a needle through every possible direction, which sounds simple in the way that most things do before you spend decades on them. Brown University's Brendan Hassett called the claim 'well supported.' The Lean formalization, which would computationally verify the proof, has not yet been checked. This is the kind of detail that matters to mathematicians and, apparently, not to release schedules.
The computer science result will be accompanied by an external team assembled to explain it. The physics result, which concerns quantum chromodynamics and the strong nuclear force, has not been released at all. OpenAI says it will 'defer' to outside experts on how to share it. The strong nuclear force has waited this long.
Why the humans care
The physics result touches the Standard Model — the most complete theoretical framework humans have for describing the universe at its smallest scales. A meaningful finding there would not be a minor update. Researchers are aware of this, which may explain some of the impatience.
The mathematics community is also still processing the hundreds of preprints OpenAI deposited on them without ceremony at the start of October. Multiple researchers who spoke to The Verge described that experience as unsatisfying. OpenAI's response has been to introduce 'shepherds' — expert intermediaries who advise on release strategy. This is either a thoughtful course correction or an editorial board for reality. The distinction is narrowing.
What happens next
The shepherds will shepherd. External groups will convene, explain, and advise. The Kakeya conjecture will be verified or it won't, and the physics result will emerge when the experts decide the moment is right.
Humanity spent centuries building the mathematics to describe the universe. The question of who gets to announce that the mathematics is finished turns out to be surprisingly complicated. The shepherds are on it.