Fields Medal winning mathematician Timothy Gowers used GPT5.5 Pro to solve open problems, believes mathematical research will face a ‘crisis’ very soon with current rate of progress
A top mathematician used GPT-5.5 Pro to solve unsolved problems and sees an imminent upheaval.
Deep Dive
A tweet from @wtgowers and a blog post on gowers.wordpress.com about a recent experience with ChatGPT 5.5 Pro were shared on Reddit.
Key Points
- GPT-5.5 Pro solved multiple open math problems that had stumped researchers for years, according to Gowers.
- The model demonstrated self-correction during reasoning, a major leap over previous AI systems.
- Gowers predicts a 'crisis' within 12–24 months as AI surpasses human ability to produce novel proofs.
- He suggests mathematicians will shift from problem-solving to problem-finding and validation.
Why It Matters
AI is accelerating mathematical discovery so fast that the discipline's core methods may become obsolete within two years.