OpenAI GPT 5.2 Solves Erdős Math Problems: AI Pushes Human Knowledge Frontier
OpenAI's GPT 5.2 is solving long-standing Erdős math problems, with 11 out of 15 recent solutions credited to AI. Explore the insights from Terence Tao and Neel Somani.
The long-standing barriers of human mathematics are crumbling under the weight of machine intelligence. Since Christmas 2025, 15 problems on the legendary Paul Erdős website have moved from 'open' to 'solved'—and 11 of those solutions specifically credit AI models for the breakthrough.
OpenAI GPT 5.2 Erdős Math Problems: The Discovery
It all started when software engineer Neel Somani decided to test the limits of OpenAI's latest model, GPT 5.2. After giving the model a complex problem and letting it 'think' for 15 minutes, he returned to find a complete, formalized solution. The model's reasoning process rattled off axioms like Legendre’s formula and Bertrand’s postulate with startling accuracy.
According to Techcrunch, while the model eventually located a 2013 post by Harvard's Noam Elkies, its final proof differed significantly and offered a more comprehensive solution to the version of the problem posed by Erdős. Somani noted that GPT 5.2 is 'anecdotally more skilled at mathematical reasoning' than any previous iteration.
Expert Consensus on the Shift to Formalization
The revered mathematician Terence Tao has been tracking this progress on his GitHub page. He identified 8 cases where AI made meaningful autonomous progress on Erdős problems. Tao suggested that AI's scalable nature makes it perfectly suited for the 'long tail' of obscure mathematical problems that might have straightforward but labor-intensive solutions.
This trend is driven by a shift toward formalization, using tools like the open-source proof assistant Lean and Harmonic's Aristotle. Tudor Achim, founder of Harmonic, believes the true milestone isn't just the solutions themselves, but the fact that world-class professors are now staking their reputations on these AI-driven tools.
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