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An amateur solved a math problem that was unresolved for 60 years using a single GPT prompt
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Subscription required. Any1 knows what the problem was?
Apparently this was the proof (I think? I have no real idea):
I have no idea what any of it means lol
"I can absolutely do that for you, would you like the answer in any particular format? For instance, I can give it to you in Roman numerals, or ancient Neanderthal."
"What? No, just the normal proof, please."
"I understand, not everybody is interested in ancient numerical systems without the concept of zero."
"Right. Can I get that proof now?
"Of course, your discussion of ancient numerical systems without the concept of zero has distracted us. Would you like that proof displayed in Base 12, or Base 16?"
"WTF are you talking about? Just display the proof in normal American numbers, with zeros."
"Of course, that will be easy, but could you please upload the prompt again? That way I can get to work on the proof, without ancient numerical systems without the concept of zero, or Based 12 or Base 16? Will that work?"
"Yes, here's the prompt, please just do the proof in the normal way."
"Here is your proof. Let me know if you'd like it color coded."
"I don't see anything."
"Of course, I'm sorry that I didn't display it, please upload that prompt again, so I can get to work on the proof, without ancient numerical systems without the concept of zero, or Based 12 or Base 16? Did you want that color coding?"
"No, I don't want the color coding. Please stop asking me questions, and just give me the proof I have been asking for over and over again."
"I understand, but now you e used up all your free prompts, and you will have to wait until it resets before I can help you."
"But you used up all my prompts by asking me irrelevant questions, and not doing any of the work I asked your for!"
"I understand your frustration, but I will do your proof as soon as it resets."
"When will that be?"
"There is no way of knowing."
"You really suck, you know that?"
"I understand your frustration. Would you like me to keep you company while we wait for the reset?"
"No, go fuck yourself."
That is an almost word for word transcript of one interaction I had with Co-Pilot. No exaggeration. If anything, it was longer and more infuriating than that. It's like the worst employee I've ever had. If AI worked for me, I'd fire it every fucking day.
I didn't get asked for a subscription. Maybe clear cookies? It said it was an Erdos problem and this guy and his friend have been trying AI on a number of Erdos problems. The output needed tidying up to make it more understandable but it sounds like the whole proof was created by the AI, or at least all the important parts.
Thank you, here seams to be a blog post talking about the process.
https://www.erdosproblems.com/forum/thread/blog:2
Thanks for the link