July 22, 2026
Proof, panic, and a chatbot pal
Terrence Tao's ChatGPT Conversation about the Jacobian Conjecture Counterexample
Math genius chats with ChatGPT, and the internet can't decide if it's magic or just wild PR
TLDR: A shared ChatGPT conversation suggests the AI helped explore a serious math claim with Terrence Tao, turning a niche research moment into internet theater. Commenters were split between awe that it looked like a “colleague,” skepticism about what it really means, and jokes about corporate firewalls blocking the future.
A shared chat showing legendary mathematician Terrence Tao working through a deep math problem with ChatGPT sent commenters straight into debate mode. The technical details are dense enough to make most civilians sprint for the exit, but the vibe was crystal clear: people were less obsessed with the formulas than with the spectacle of a world-famous mathematician seemingly treating an AI chatbot like a research buddy. That alone was enough to light up the comment section.
The biggest reaction was pure disbelief mixed with awe. One commenter basically said, yes, yes, we all know it’s “just software,” but after reading the exchange, “damn!” Others called it some of the best public-relations material AI has ever gotten, because even non-experts could feel they were peeking behind the curtain at something important. The hottest take? That the chatbot didn’t look like a calculator here — it looked like a colleague. That word did a lot of work, and you could almost hear half the internet clutching its pearls.
But not everyone was ready to declare a robot math professor. Some readers stepped back and asked the very human question: so what does this actually change? Is this a revolution, or just another tiny brick in a giant wall of progress? Meanwhile, the most relatable drama came from the poor soul begging for a mirror because the whole thing was blocked by a corporate firewall — proof that even when history is happening, office IT can still be the final boss. And naturally, someone dropped the parent Hacker News thread, because no internet event is complete until it has a sequel.
Key Points
- •The article content is a shared ChatGPT conversation examining an alternate mathematical approach related to a claimed Jacobian conjecture counterexample.
- •ChatGPT defines a variety X in C^5 by two polynomial equations and provides an explicit polynomial map Phi from A^3 to X.
- •The response states that direct expansion verifies the defining equations identically, including at a = 0, so there is no exceptional locus in the displayed construction.
- •A reverse polynomial map Psi from X to A^3 is given, and the conversation states that both compositions Psi o Phi and Phi o Psi equal the identity maps on their respective spaces.
- •A follow-up question asks whether composing Phi with F(a,b,c,d,e) = (ac, ad+bc, ae+bd, be) and dropping the ad+bc term yields a polynomial map to C^3 with constant Jacobian; the visible response begins by answering yes but is truncated.