AI solves “impossible” mathematical problems. Can it defeat the world’s best mathematicians?

In October 2024, it was revealed that Facebook parent company Meta had solved an “impossible” problem that had stymied mathematicians for a century.

In this case, the solvers were not human.

A artificial intelligence The (AI) model developed by Meta determined whether solutions to the equations that govern certain dynamically changing systems – such as the swing of a pendulum or the oscillation of a spring – would remain stable and therefore predictable forever.

The key to the problem was finding Lyapunov functions that determine the long-term stability of these systems.

Meta’s work made headlines and raised a possibility once considered pure fantasy: that AI could soon surpass the world’s best mathematicians by solving what were considered “unsolvable” problems in mathematics en masse.