加州理工学院举办首届研究级数学竞赛 AI计算资源超200万美元

加州理工学院将于10月30日至11月1日举办首届Mathathon竞赛，这是有史以来第一个专门针对研究级数学的竞赛。1该竞赛为期40小时，共有100支团队参赛。1参赛团队将获得超过200万美元的AI计算资源额度，用于攻克数学领域的开放问题。1

本次竞赛旨在探索人工智能在加速数学理论发展、推进同行评审发表进程中的潜力，并深入思考在AI求解难题时数学家应当发挥的角色。1近年来的AI突破已展现出这一领域的发展动力——2026年5月20日，AI推翻了悬而未决80年的Erdos平面单位距离猜想；2026年8月1日，AI构造了第一个显式非sofic群，解决了困扰学界27年的问题；2026年8月23日，AI证明了六球体存在复结构，这一难题此前未解决78年。1

Caltech will host the inaugural Mathathon, a hackathon focused exclusively on research-level mathematics, from October 30 through November 1 1. The competition will bring together leading mathematical talent from around the world to tackle open problems in mathematics over a 40-hour period 1. Participating teams will have access to over $2 million in AI computing credits to support their efforts 1, with approximately 100 teams expected to compete 1.

The event aims to explore how artificial intelligence can accelerate the journey from mathematical theory to peer-reviewed publication, while also examining the evolving role of mathematicians when AI is applied to difficult problems 1. Recent breakthroughs have demonstrated AI's potential in addressing long-standing mathematical challenges: on May 20, 2026, AI resolved the Erdős plane unit distance conjecture, which had remained unsolved for 80 years; on August 1, 2026, it constructed the first explicit non-sofic group, open for 27 years; and on August 23, 2026, it proved the existence of complex structures on six-spheres, a question that had been open for 78 years, though this last result remains unverified 1.