“Creative math research by AI as the latest sign of the end” by Mitchell_Porter

Yesterday I sat down with GPT 5.6 Sol High to do some brainstorming. The topic was one of the less appreciated Millenium Problems (the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture), and the initial prompt started life as a question on Quora. Number theory is not a field I know, and I only expected the "discussion" to last for a few exchanges. However, ChatGPT was immediately inspired to try generalizing the BSD conjecture in a specific direction, and this led to an unusually drawn-out and self-sufficient line of "research". Almost every response concluded with a suggestion as to what the next task should be, and my input was just to cheer on what had been accomplished so far, and then endorse the suggested next direction. What was especially striking to me, was the frequency with which each new response began with a conceptual adjustment regarding the sub-task to be performed. Evidently a vast variety of abstract objects are possible in number theory, and their differences and interrelations can be quite subtle. ChatGPT was regularly adjusting the next sub-task it had set itself, generally in the direction of greater nuance by aiming at a more sophisticated construction than it had first [...] --- First published: August 10th, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EqabWKtjqDqTHfwwn/creative-math-research-by-ai-as-the-latest-sign-of-the-end --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.