Jake Boggan on the Barnette conjecture being proved by AI
What happened
On 7 October 2026, Simon Willison reported that Jake Boggan, commenting on the openai/math discussion on Hacker News, said he had spent 24 years and thousands of hours on the Barnette conjecture, and at one point last summer thought he had solved it. He said the conjecture has been proved at problem 180, and described hearing the news as a distant sadness, like learning an ex-girlfriend had suddenly died in a car crash.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 9 d ago
Timeline
Follow the reports to see the event from each side.
- Simon WillisonQuoting Jake Boggan
Commenting on the openai/math discussion on Hacker News, Jake Boggan said he spent 24 years and thousands of hours on Barnette's Conjecture, and last summer briefly thought he had solved it. The conjecture is said to have been proven at problem 180, and he described feeling a far-off sadness on hearing the news, like learning an ex-girlfriend had died suddenly in a car crash.