OpenAI’s AI Just Disproved a 35-Year-Old Computer Science Hypothesis — And a Proof Checker Confirmed It
Reading Time: 6 minutesOpenAI claims its AI disproved the Exponential Time Hypothesis on October 16, 2026, with the formal proof checker Lean verifying the result the next day. A working group that includes the hypothesis’s original authors is now reviewing whether the claim holds, making this the most significant — and most carefully scrutinised — AI-generated research result to date.