OpenAI Spends $40M to Win $1M Math Prize, Declares AI Bubble Blown

KEY POINTS

•On September 8, 2026, OpenAI announced it solved the 90-year-old Navier-Stokes equations after 88 hours of AI work plus 17 hours verifying.
•The solution involved 10,000 concurrent AI agents sending 2.7 million messages and 130 billion output tokens, costing an estimated $10 million to $40 million.
•OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declined the $1 million prize, joking that AI is such a bubble, amid criticism over the use of mathematicians' research data.

In a move that screams “I’m rich, just kidding,” OpenAI announced on September 8, 2026, that they cracked the 90-year-old Navier-Stokes equations using 10,000 AI agents multitasking like caffeine-fueled math nerds for 88 hours plus 17 hours verifying. This brain-buster is worth a million bucks, but don’t expect to see that prize in Sam Altman’s pockets. Chatting up a storm with 2.7 million messages and 130 billion output tokens — estimated to cost $6.5 million alone — the CEO joked, 'AI is such a bubble,' while racking up a bill between $10 and $40 million. Meanwhile, mathematicians Tristan Buckmaster and Levent Alpöge suspect OpenAI snooped on their research, but OpenAI insists it just *might* have accidentally absorbed de-identified data like a crypto wallet absorbing dust. Business Insider is still waiting for a comment.