AI decodes logician Gödel's notebooks to uncover lost theorems
Artificial intelligence has decoded 1,009 pages of Austrian logician Kurt Gödel's obsolete shorthand notebooks, revealing hundreds of previously unknown mathematical theorems.
An artificial intelligence model has unlocked the long-hidden mathematical discoveries of Austrian logician Kurt Gödel by deciphering more than 1,000 pages of his unpublished notebooks. The material revealed hundreds of unrecorded theorems and new logic frameworks, The Guardian reported.
Gödel, renowned for his 1931 incompleteness theorems that paved the way for modern computing, left 16 workbooks written in the early 1940s using Gabelsberger, an obsolete German shorthand. Since 2017, Finnish logician Jan von Plato at Helsinki University had managed to translate only about one page a week due to the complex script.
After enlisting the AI model Claude in September, researchers received a comprehensive analysis within days. Von Plato described the findings as astonishing, noting that Gödel anticipated logic discoveries made decades later and outlined 14 entirely unpursued mathematical themes.
Source: The Guardian
