2026 was the year AI started making real scientific discoveries.
in a single year:
> Claude Fable 5 found a counterexample to the 87-year-old Jacobian Conjecture
> OpenAI Astra solved 10 open math problems, including proving the existence of a Bisopic group
> GPT-5.2 Pro produced the first clear solution to an open Erdős problem
> GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra proved the 50-year-old Cycle Double Cover Conjecture
> Grok 4.5 disproved the 5-year-old Hypercontractive Boundary Conjecture
> AI identified the genetic cause of a disease that had remained undiagnosed for 20 years
> OpenAI increased enzyme reaction efficiency by 79× and discovered a new enzymatic mechanism
> Isomorphic Labs unveiled IsoDDE, surpassing AlphaFold 3 by more than 2× for drug design
> OpenAI solved all five problems in the AtCoder Algorithm Contest and topped the Heuristic Contest
> an internal OpenAI model disproved the 80-year-old Erdős Unit Distance Conjecture
this is what AI accomplished in 2026.