GPT-5.6 Sol reportedly disproves a 30-year-old statistics conjecture in 90 minutes after humans couldn't crack it
GPT-5.6 Sol cracked a 30-year math problem in 90 minutes. GPT-5.5 couldn't in 20 hours. Here's what that tells us about AI capability jumps.
Why it matters
A tangible capability leap between model versions—GPT-5.6 Sol's ability to solve an open conjecture in mathematical statistics demonstrates measurable reasoning improvements and raises the stakes on whether AI can produce genuinely novel knowledge vs. recombination.
The key facts
6 to knowGPT-5.6 Sol solved Benjamini-Hochberg method conjecture in ~90 minutes
GPT-5.5 failed after 20 hours on same problem
30-year-old open conjecture in statistics
Solution combines known methods in novel way
University of Pennsylvania statistics professor conducted test
Raises question: AI generation vs. AI recombination of existing knowledge
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: A University of Pennsylvania statistics professor used OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol Pro to disprove a central open conjecture about the Benjamini-Hochberg method in roughly 90 minutes. The predecessor model, GPT-5.5, couldn't find a solution even after 20 hours. The answer combines known methods in a new…