Claude AI Cracks 87-Year-Old Math Puzzle, Sparks New Bitcoin Debate

An AI system built by Anthropic has helped disprove a mathematical puzzle that stumped researchers for 87 years, a breakthrough now drawing attention from crypto markets watching AI’s rapid progress.

A Problem Unsolved Since 1939

Number theorist Levent Alpöge, who works at Anthropic, shared the result on social media Sunday, crediting the company’s newest model for the work.

The puzzle, known as the Jacobian conjecture, asked whether certain mathematical functions that pass a specific test can always be reversed. For 87 years nobody could prove it true or find an exception. The AI built a counterexample where three different inputs produce the same output, making reversal impossible and settling the question within a day of verification.

Why Crypto Traders Are Paying Attention

Bitcoin has increasingly moved in step with AI-related stocks rather than its own catalysts, partly because major mining companies have pivoted into AI data center operations. Breakthroughs like this one reinforce investor appetite for AI-linked assets, raising questions about whether capital that once flowed into crypto is shifting toward AI infrastructure and model developers instead.