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OpenAI's Unreleased Model Astra Solves Ten Major Open Mathematics Problems

Substack · Read

  • Reports OpenAI’s internal (unreleased) Astra model solved ten significant open mathematics problems — including sphere packing, non-sofic groups, and quantum parallel repetition theorems — with formal Lean proofs, for roughly $2,000 in inference compute.
  • Notes an important caveat also central to Gary Marcus’s skeptical coverage of the same model (tracked separately this cycle): several of the same problems were subsequently solvable by earlier models like Fable when specifically prompted — the frontier-exclusive framing may overstate how novel the capability jump actually is.
  • Frames the genuine result as superhuman capability in verifiable mathematical reasoning specifically — a narrower and more defensible claim than general mathematical superiority.