OpenAI exits Caltech Mathathon after mathematicians object

OpenAI has dropped its sponsorship of a Caltech math contest after hundreds of mathematicians asked organizers to shut the event down. The student-led Mathathon is still slated to start on 30 October 2026, unless the organizers cancel it.

Current and former Caltech mathematicians, writing as a coalition on Proofs and Prompts, published an open letter on 10 September 2026. They want the contest suspended. Participants were going to prompt large language models on open research problems. Anthropic and OpenAI together were slated to supply $2 million in AI credits.

At publication the letter listed 771 signatories, and the form is still open for eligible names: Caltech community members, or research mathematicians at PhD level or higher. The authors warn of "slop mathematics" and unpaid verification labor after rushed AI-generated claims. They say AI companies are engaging in "research misconduct."

Business Insider reported that OpenAI research lead Dan Roberts said on X that OpenAI is no longer sponsoring. Roberts also said the company wants to engage the math community on how to integrate the technology and communicate its impacts.

The letter page links a response from the organizers, and their framing of the event continues. Anthropic's sponsorship after OpenAI's exit is not settled in the letter. Business Insider said Anthropic did not immediately comment, and it was unclear how the $2 million credit pool splits now.

The Caltech letter is separate from a Fields Medalists letter that circulated the same week. October 30 is still on the calendar. Anthropic is still named in the original credit plan until it says otherwise.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.