A startup says its system proved an 18-year-old conjecture, and a computer checked the proof.

Verified as an action: we read the announcement and the claim at psi.inc, which carries the authorship, the Lean formalization claim, the named advisers and the Stanford readers. The page shows November 6, 2026 and no time of day. The mathematics itself is not something we verify; the paper and code are linked on GitHub for anyone who will.

Physical Superintelligence, which goes by PSI, published A proof of the Aaronson-Ambainis conjecture at psi.inc on November 6, 2026, and we read it there. The claim: a research system PSI built internally, running instances of a non-public Anthropic model it does not name, found a proof of the conjecture. It says the system had a complete proof during the third day of the run, was then set to work on related open problems, improved the result twice, and that Lean, a proof assistant in which a computer checks every step, accepted the final version, with a complete formalization in Lean. The conjecture was proposed by Scott Aaronson and Andris Ambainis and the page says it has been open since 2008. It concerns whether quantum computers can be exponentially faster than ordinary computers on random inputs. Aaronson and Ambainis showed that if a statement about certain polynomials is true, quantum computers are at most polynomially faster on random inputs, and the page says the proof establishes that statement, stating a bound on the influence of some bit in terms of the variance and the degree. The page opens by saying the Aaronson-Ambainis conjecture is now a theorem. On who checked it: Lean accepted the proof and its revision; PSI adviser Jim Halverson audited the proof; PSI adviser Phiala Shanahan commented on the Lean formalization; David Turturean, a PSI member of technical staff, led the work and is named responsible for the paper's correctness; and Guy Blanc, Jordan Docter, Carmen Strassle and Li-Yang Tan at Stanford read the proof and sent comments, having proved a special case in August 2026. The page quotes the Stanford comment as calling it a huge result. It does not say they endorse the full proof. The page is PSI's own announcement, so its claims are self-reported. The paper and code are linked on GitHub. Not established: which Anthropic model, whether Anthropic knew or agreed, the length of the run, whether the Lean code has had independent review, and whether mathematicians accept the result.

1. 2008

   Scott Aaronson and Andris Ambainis propose the conjecture, on PSI's account. It concerns whether quantum computers can be exponentially faster than ordinary ones on random inputs.

2. Sep 8

   OpenAI publishes a proof of one of mathematics' 7 great open problems and says a model it has not released wrote it. Edition 016's science card.

3. Sep 11

   25 Fields Medal winners sign a single page saying the AI companies racing to solve famous problems are damaging mathematics. Edition 019.

4. Aug 2026

   Guy Blanc, Jordan Docter, Carmen Strassle and Li-Yang Tan at Stanford prove a special case of the conjecture. They are among the readers PSI names.

5. Nov 6

   PSI publishes the proof and a Lean formalization, says Lean accepted it and its revision, and names 2 advisers and 4 Stanford readers. The model is a non-public Anthropic model it does not name.