Liam Price and ChatGPT-5.4 Pro solve Erdős's primitive set problem
Technology
A tricky math problem from the 1960s, posed by legendary mathematician Paul Erdos, has finally been solved, with a little help from AI.
Liam Price, a 23-year-old math fan, used ChatGPT-5.4 Pro to tackle the complex "primitive set" challenge and got the answer in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
AI reused overlooked formula
Instead of inventing something new, ChatGPT took an old formula and used it in a fresh way that experts had missed for years.
UCLA's Terence Tao pointed out that even top mathematicians kept getting stuck at the same spot: something AI managed to see past.
This win isn't about replacing people; it shows how AI can team up with humans to rethink old problems and spot solutions we might overlook.