Human mathematicians are being outcounterexampled(xenaproject.wordpress.com)
458 points by artninja1988 1 day ago | 227 comments
tl;dr: In mid-2026, AI tools (ChatGPT's Sol, Claude's Fable, and startups like Logos and Logical Intelligence) produced and formalized in Lean multiple counterexamples to long-standing math problems, including Erdős' Unit Distance conjecture, a 60-year-old Grothendieck question on finite group schemes, and the 100-year-old Jacobian Conjecture. The author, a Lean advocate, argues large AI-generated math developments are now inevitable and that any PhD student not paying for these tools is making a mistake. The remaining challenge is for humans to extract mathematical insight from these machine-discovered counterexamples.
HN Discussion:
  • Counterexamples save mathematicians time and refine understanding, supporting AI's value in math
  • AI tools could have saved mathematicians like Zhang from career-ruining dead ends
  • Concern that flood of AI proofs will burden mathematicians with error-checking drudgery
  • ~Nostalgic/lamenting loss of human mathematical achievement to machines
  • Questioning whether AI math will yield real breakthroughs or just rehash known results