For generations, mathematicians have tried and failed to solve an 80-year-old problem. In May, an artificial intelligence (AI) model successfully tackled it. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said one of its internal models had made a breakthrough with the challenge first posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946 — the planar unit distance problem. The mathematician was known for creating such challenges, which are collectively known as “Erdős problems”. Claims of AI models solving maths problems are not new, attracting criticism as well as scepticism.  Experts, however, say this particular result stands out. Had a human carried it out, it would merit publication in a top math journal, they say. “No previous AI-generated proof has come close” to meeting those high standards, wrote Tim Gowers, a mathematician at the University of Cambridge, in commentary for OpenAI. Thomas Bloom, a researcher at the University of Manchester who maintains the website erdosproblems.com, told The Indian Express that he had ranked the “unit distance problem” among his top 10 Erdős problems and expected that a solution was …