OpenAI Withdraws from Caltech Mathathon, Announces $2M in Credits

OpenAI has ended its sponsorship of the Caltech Mathathon, a competition that promised teams AI tokens and a lengthy second round of work. The decision comes amid a backlash from mathematicians denouncing "sloppy mathematics" and against the backdrop of a highly controversial announcement regarding the Navier-Stokes equations.

$2M in credits announced and a two-phase format

Anthropic and OpenAI had agreed to provide $2 million in AI credits to support the Mathathon. On Thursday, the exact extent of OpenAI's contribution and the fate of the associated tokens remained uncertain. The competition features an initial 40-hour round with $20,000 in tokens to tackle an open problem, followed by a selection of teams admitted to a second round with six months and additional credits. The event is presented as a training ground for the responsible use of AI tools to deepen the understanding of mathematics. The organizers, largely undergraduate students, assert that they did not seek to provoke controversy and defend a format intended to keep young people engaged with modern tools. They specify that this is the first time they are organizing an event of this scale and express gratitude for the feedback received.

An open letter denounces the risk of "sloppy mathematics"

On Wednesday, current and former mathematicians from Caltech published an open letter stating that the event, supported by AI companies, could have destructive effects on the community. They criticize certain companies for claiming to solve theoretical questions with their models while leaving researchers responsible for practical applications and proofs, which they label as "sloppy mathematics." According to the academics, academic teams then find themselves verifying, disseminating, or even discrediting claimed results, a task that is unpaid, uncredited, and unrecognized. The signatories also believe that the Mathathon would provide unfair publicity to AI companies, which could take credit for efforts made by young talents.

OpenAI's withdrawal and controversy surrounding Navier-Stokes

On Thursday, a researcher from OpenAI confirmed that the company was no longer sponsoring the Caltech hackathon. Dan Roberts, head of research, stated that the rapid advancements of AI in mathematics are disruptive and expressed a desire to engage more with the community on the integration of these technologies and how to communicate their impacts. This decision follows an announcement from OpenAI on Tuesday claiming that its agents had solved the Navier-Stokes equations, a 90-year-old system describing fluid motion. On Tuesday, mathematician Tristan Buckmaster stated that OpenAI might have leveraged its interactions with chatbots to arrive at a solution, while OpenAI claims it cannot rule out that anonymized data from the use of its products contributed to the improvement of its models. On Thursday, neither Anthropic nor OpenAI had immediately responded to requests for comment. The hackathon, which mobilizes language models to explore research problems, was still presented by its organizers as an event dedicated to the responsible use of AI.