Import AI 480: Self-sustaining space economies; AI for science progress, and Meta builds perfect hands for a superintelligence

Why it matters

Physical Superintelligence, an AI science startup, reports that its internally developed research system, running a non-public Anthropic model, proved a quantum computing conjecture open since 2008, posed by Scott Aaronson and Andris Ambainis. The conjecture concerns when quantum computers can be exponentially faster than ordinary ones. According to the startup, the system produced a complete proof on the third day of a run, and Lean, a proof assistant that checks every step, accepted it. The system then worked on related open problems and improved the result twice, with Lean accepting the final version. The significance lies in the shift from machines performing pattern recognition to machines extending the bounds of human knowledge: an automated research system settling a fundamental question in quantum computing, with human researchers left to understand and interpret the output. The author frames this as evidence that scientific progress may be outpacing humans' ability to absorb it, a condition he described in a speech at the IMF as the early stages of a singularity.