Google DeepMind used a large language model to discover new math | MIT Technology Review
Google DeepMind has used a large language model to crack a famous unsolved problem in pure mathematics. In a paper published in Nature today, the researchers say it is the first time a large language model has been used to discover a solution to a long-standing scientific puzzle producing verifiable and valuable new information that did not previously exist. It s not in the training data it wasn t even known, says coauthor Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at Google DeepMind.
Large language models have a reputation for making things up, not for providing new facts. Google DeepMind s new tool, called FunSearch, could change that. It shows that they can indeed make discoveries if they are coaxed just so, and if you throw out the majority of what they come up with.
H/t Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.