Chinese doctor stuns maths world by cracking decades-old problem using ChatGPT

Advertisement Artificial intelligence Tech Tech Trends Chinese doctor stuns maths world by cracking decades-old problem using ChatGPT Jin Shanmu, a Beijing-based neurosurgeon, was trying to solve a problem related to brain ultrasounds. Instead, he made mathematical history 2 -MIN READ 2 -MIN 7 Listen Xinmei Shen Published: 10:00am, 14 Aug 2026 When Beijing-based neurosurgeon Jin Shanmu pulled up a chair at his computer, he was not looking to make mathematical history. He was simply trying to crack a problem related to brain ultrasounds. Instead, the self-taught maths enthusiast, with help from OpenAI’s latest flagship artificial intelligence (AI) model , solved a two-decade-old mathematical puzzle that had frustrated experts around the world since 2004. Jin, a postdoctoral researcher and resident at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, managed to prove Crouzeix’s conjecture, a problem in numerical linear algebra. His tool? A 16-hour autonomous run on GPT-5.6-Sol, operating on the ChatGPT Work platform. Proposed by French mathematician Michel Crouzeix, the conjecture posits that the norm of applying any function to a matrix is no larger than twice the function’s maximum value on that matrix’s numerical range. While abstract, it has long been an intriguing problem in matrix analysis – a field Jin stumbled into while undertaking research on transcranial ultrasounds. Advertisement Select Voice Select Speed 0.8x 0.9x 1.0x 1.1x 1.2x 1.5x 1.75x 00:00 00:00 1.00 x