A new ‘golden age’ of mathematics may be dawning — thanks to AI and human ingenuity

This image depicts an idea from the counterexample to the unit distance conjecture — a mathematical problem posed in 1946 and solved in 2026 by generative AI. (Trefor Bazett) In May 2026, OpenAI released a new math result that sent shock waves throughout the world of mathematical research. A major unsolved problem called the “unit distance conjecture” had just been resolved by generative AI. Since then, there has been a steady drumbeat of new results that either partially or completely…