Fields Medalist says GPT-5.5 Pro produced 'PhD-level' math research in under two hours

Timothy Gowers had GPT-5.5 Pro tackle open number theory problems and said the model improved an exponential bound to a polynomial one without human help, in under an hour. An MIT researcher called the key idea 'completely original.' Gowers' blog post hit 661 points on HN and a parallel r/singularity thread drew 950 upvotes, with commenters debating whether mathematical research is heading for a 'crisis.'