Two teams solved the same quantum crypto problem using GPT-5.6 just three hours apart

AI is changing how science gets done. Two researchers independently solved the same open quantum cryptography problem using OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra, submitting their papers to arXiv.org just three hours apart, Scientific American reports. MIT PhD student Seyoon Ragavan worked on one side, professors Prabhanjan Ananth (UC Santa Barbara) and Amit Sahai (UCLA) on the other.

Both used the same AI model but took different approaches to "unclonable encryption," a method that relies on quantum properties. They're now considering merging their papers. But the case raises a bigger question: when every researcher has access to the same models, what still counts as an independent discovery?

"If someone mentions an open problem, the first thing is to see if GPT solves it," Ananth says. Ragavan puts it bluntly: "The way I do research now has nothing to do with how I did research two months ago." Math in particular is feeling AI's impact, and reactions range from excitement about new possibilities to depression over a lost sense of identity.