4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Oct 8, 2026 04:05 PM IST
Two days after OpenAI released a broad range of mathematical results produced by one of its internal frontier models, the Association for Human Mathematics (AHM) slammed the Sam Altman-led AI startup.
In a statement, AHM criticised the release of 722 manuscripts spanning 372 groups of results. OpenAI said the work included solutions to, or made significant progress on, hundreds of open problems in mathematics and theoretical computer science.
“Mathematicians did not ask for this work to be done” AHM said in the statement that began by invoking the accusations of illegal plagiarism, copyright infringement, and trademark dilution that have been made against OpenAI.
OpenAI published the results in a GitHub repository with protocols for paper revisions and citations. The ChatGPT-maker also disclosed that to improve how it shares the results with the broader math community, it has been consulting an independent Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AGMAI) at the Institute for Advanced Study. OpenAI said that the group is helping it to develop best practices for releasing AI-generated mathematical research.
This was following the criticism it received from the math community after it claimed to crack the Navier-Stokes problem, which is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems. It raised questions about transparency, and OpenAI was criticised for prioritising speed and AI-generated results over independent mathematical verification, transparency, and not giving appropriate credit to researchers.
AHM, in its statement, said that the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, whose counsel OpenAI sought, opened its initial advisory statement by saying that frontier AI corporations should not test advanced mathematical problems on their internal models. AHM said that by overlooking the central premise of the Advisory Group’s position, OpenAI has indicated ‘total disregard for the norms of scientific research ‘. And these norms, according to AHM, guarantee that mathematics remains ‘trustworthy, ethically researched, and in the public interest’.
According to the recommendations of AGMAI, the use of proprietary internal models by AI labs to perform mathematical research risks creating a two-tier system where labs outrun the rest of the field, effectively alienating the mathematical community from its own discipline.
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“We reject OpenAI’s assertion that this release advances our subject, and we urge mathematicians and the public to view the value of this publication model with due skepticism,” the statement read. The association said that mathematicians have a particular vision of progress that is informed by history and field-specific considerations.
The association also called out OpenAI for releasing multitudes of manuscripts. AHM said that releasing over 700 files at once is not a demonstration of scholarship but a demonstration of power. “We urge mathematicians to discontinue their work with OpenAI and to return to a vision of science that centres human understanding.”
AHM is a professional organisation of mathematicians that advocates mathematics as a human-led discipline amid the growing use of AI in research and education. Based in the US, the group reportedly has 752 members. It is particularly relevant to the AI-mathematics debate because members pledge not to work with commercial AI companies or publish AI-generated mathematical writing; at the same time, it is committed to avoiding AI in mathematical research.
