OpenAI withdraws sponsorship from Caltech math hackathon

OpenAI has withdrawn its sponsorship of Mathathon, a mathematics hackathon at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The decision follows an open letter from current and former Caltech mathematicians warning that the event, which encourages the use of large language models to tackle research problems, could have destructive impacts on the mathematical community.

Academics criticized the trend of AI companies claiming to solve complex theoretical problems while leaving the labor of verification, dissemination, and discrediting of incorrect results to human researchers. They described this phenomenon as ‘slop mathematics,’ noting that such work is often performed without compensation, credit, or acknowledgment.

OpenAI research lead Dan Roberts acknowledged that the rapid progress of AI in mathematics is disruptive and stated that the company intends to engage more deeply with the math community to determine the best ways to integrate this technology and communicate its impacts.