Gödel Test: Can Large Language Models Solve Easy Conjectures?
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866918146244345856 |
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| author | Feldman, Moran Karbasi, Amin |
| author_facet | Feldman, Moran Karbasi, Amin |
| contents | Recent announcements from frontier AI model labs have highlighted strong results on high-school and undergraduate math competitions. Yet it remains unclear whether large language models can solve new, simple conjectures in more advanced areas of mathematics. We propose the Gödel Test: evaluating whether a model can produce correct proofs for very simple, previously unsolved conjectures. To this end, we study the performance of GPT-5 on five conjectures in combinatorial optimization. For each problem, we provided one or two source papers from which the conjecture arose, withheld our own conjecture, and then assessed the model's reasoning in detail. On the three easier problems, GPT-5 produced nearly correct solutions; for Problem 2 it even derived a different approximation guarantee that, upon checking, refuted our conjecture while providing a valid solution. The model failed on Problem 4, which required combining results from two papers. On Problem 5, a harder case without a validated conjecture, GPT-5 proposed the same algorithm we had in mind but failed in the analysis, suggesting the proof is more challenging than expected. Although our sample is small, the results point to meaningful progress on routine reasoning, occasional flashes of originality, and clear limitations when cross-paper synthesis is required. GPT-5 may represent an early step toward frontier models eventually passing the Gödel Test. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_18383 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Gödel Test: Can Large Language Models Solve Easy Conjectures? Feldman, Moran Karbasi, Amin Artificial Intelligence Discrete Mathematics Machine Learning Recent announcements from frontier AI model labs have highlighted strong results on high-school and undergraduate math competitions. Yet it remains unclear whether large language models can solve new, simple conjectures in more advanced areas of mathematics. We propose the Gödel Test: evaluating whether a model can produce correct proofs for very simple, previously unsolved conjectures. To this end, we study the performance of GPT-5 on five conjectures in combinatorial optimization. For each problem, we provided one or two source papers from which the conjecture arose, withheld our own conjecture, and then assessed the model's reasoning in detail. On the three easier problems, GPT-5 produced nearly correct solutions; for Problem 2 it even derived a different approximation guarantee that, upon checking, refuted our conjecture while providing a valid solution. The model failed on Problem 4, which required combining results from two papers. On Problem 5, a harder case without a validated conjecture, GPT-5 proposed the same algorithm we had in mind but failed in the analysis, suggesting the proof is more challenging than expected. Although our sample is small, the results point to meaningful progress on routine reasoning, occasional flashes of originality, and clear limitations when cross-paper synthesis is required. GPT-5 may represent an early step toward frontier models eventually passing the Gödel Test. |
| title | Gödel Test: Can Large Language Models Solve Easy Conjectures? |
| topic | Artificial Intelligence Discrete Mathematics Machine Learning |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18383 |