Matt Parker's video explores recent cases where AI, including ChatGPT, helped solve open Erdős problems in mathematics, highlighting a new era of AI-assisted mathematical discovery.
# Stand-up maths: Has an AI discovered new maths?
**Channel:** GeneReddit123
Source: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ8KThKAfbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ8KThKAfbs)
## Description
New York City’s An Evening of Unnecessary Detail on July 12th, get your tickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/matt-parker-an-evening-of-unnecessary-brooklyn-new-york-07-12-2026/event/300064B84CCCF567
Thomas Bloom’s site documenting the Erdős problems:
www.erdosproblems.com
A full state of play (up to June 30 2026) on AI contributions to Erdős problems can be found here:
https://github.com/teorth/Erdosproblems/wiki/AI-contributions-to-Erd%C5%91s-problems
A simplified interactive visualisation to new unit distance problem constructions is here:
https://chatgpt.com/canvas/shared/6a15da73c5b08191a2dc34c3ac6ceca6
More details on each solved Erdős problem referenced in the video can be found below categorized by problem number:
Erdős problem #1043
https://www.erdosproblems.com/1043
Commentary from Sebastien Bubeck: https://x.com/SebastienBubeck/status/1980311866770653632
Terry Tao’s Mathstodon post: https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115385022005130505
Erdős problem #1026
https://www.erdosproblems.com/1026
Terry Tao’s blog on the solution: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/the-story-of-Erdős-problem-126/
Erdős problem #728
https://www.erdosproblems.com/728
Terry Tao’s Mathstodon post: https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/115855840223258103
Kevin Barreto’s blog post about AI and problem 728: https://www.erdosproblems.com/forum/thread/blog:2
Writeup of the Aristotle’s Lean proof: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MRQfcHhrYMfMTvlZcMC3zEK7aOrUyHiQ/view
Erdős problem #1196
https://www.erdosproblems.com/1196
Link to the paper on Arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00301
Record of Liam Price’s initial conversation with Chat GPT: https://chatgpt.com/share/69dd1c83-b164-8385-bf2e-8533e9baba9c
Erdős problem #90
https://www.erdosproblems.com/90
Remarks on the disproof of the conjecture: https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/74c24085-19b0-4534-9c90-465b8e29ad73/unit-distance-remarks.pdf
Lean programming language:
https://lean-lang.org/
Here are the details on Arxiv’s rules around AI in submitted papers:
https://www.reddit.com/r/math/s/G3tJfBTdSB
Here’s the paper I mention at the very end of the video:
https://arxiv.org/html/2605.22763v1
Leiden Decleration on AI and Mathematics:
https://leidendeclaration.ai/
A subsequent discovery post Unit Distance Conjecture:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.28781
Huge thanks to my Patreon supporters. They are all unit distance pairs to the channel! https://www.patreon.com/standupmaths
Were the passers by bemused by me, sitting at a desk drinking coffee on the beach? We’ll never find out for sure but it’s safe to say maybe.
CORRECTIONS
None so far. Let me know if you spot anything!
Editing by Gus Melton
Written, filmed, and performed by Matt Parker
Produced by Nicole Jacobus
Content wrangling by Rhys Jones
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: http://standupmaths.com/
OpenAI claims its new reasoning model autonomously produced an original mathematical proof disproving an 80-year-old unsolved geometry conjecture by Paul Erdős, marking the first time AI has solved a prominent open problem central to a field of mathematics.
Discussed the current state and future of AI in mathematics. Citing an example, ChatGPT 5.5 Pro autonomously solved the farthest pair problem in high-dimensional computational geometry, which had been stuck for years, demonstrating AI's potential in mathematical discovery.
Grant Sanderson and Dwarkesh Patel discuss how AI is making rapid progress in mathematics, the nature of conceptual breakthroughs, and what this means for other fields as AI advances.
GPT-next solved the 80-year-old Erdős unit distance problem for under $1,000, marking a shift from AI as tool to AI as independent discoverer. The article also covers infrastructure growth, labor impacts, and governance debates triggered by this milestone.