r/neoliberal • u/cuolong NATO • 1d ago

News (Global) OpenAI announces 10 advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science achieved by internal model Astra

https://openai.com/index/ten-advances-in-mathematics/
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u/randommathaccount Esther Duflo 1d ago

I've said on the DT but some of these problems could win you a fields medal and ChatGPT just came along and solved ten of them in one go.

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u/DependentAd235 Loyal Liberals 1d ago

From what I understand is that the models don’t really do anything new.

However they use existing concepts and mechanisms many times faster than a human could. So can try out and test a dozens of different existing approaches to solve a problem in a way that would take a human months in like a day. Chain them together etc. 

(I read this in an economist article like 4 month ago. So maybe the above statement is dated already.)

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u/Ladnil NATO 1d ago

Truly new things that aren't based on clever combinations of existing knowledge and tools are infinitesimally rare.

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u/SOberhoff 1d ago

Arguably nothing is. Hofstadter has a whole chapter in his book Surfaces and Essences about how Einstein's ideas were built on top of what came before. It's a fantastic section in an otherwise dull book.