Astra solves ten open math problems, AI agents fail at open-ended research, peer review under strain

Three editions running, AI-in-math results keep landing. This week: OpenAI claims ten open problems solved for under $2,000 of compute each, two independent teams used GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra to crack the same quantum cryptography problem hours apart, and a Fields medalist left his university post for OpenAI's safety team. Meanwhile, a Princeton-led study gave frontier agents $3,000 and six days to answer open research questions; the agents completed all. Full edition: hallway.aris.pub/no/020/