OpenAI and Anthropic claim to have disproved the exponential time hypothesis, a pillar of theoretical computer science
OpenAI and Anthropic said this week they have disproved the exponential time hypothesis (ETH), an assumption underpinning much research in complexity and algorithm design. Both companies published the proofs on GitHub, in natural language and in machine-checkable Lean format. Researchers have not yet independently verified them and warn that the result, if confirmed, would render numerous papers obsolete, including those of academics presenting at the IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.
In 35 seconds
- OpenAI and Anthropic claim they disproved the exponential time hypothesis, which has stood for 27 years.
- The proofs are published on GitHub in natural language and machine-checkable Lean format, with no independent verification yet.
- Academics estimate the result would undermine dozens of papers, such as about 50 by professor Daniel Lokshtanov.
IASummary generated by artificial intelligence from a story by WIRED. It may contain errors: the original source prevails.




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