Many of the recent math problems AI systems have solved have only been of theoretical interest. The question of whether you could get good control of the plasma inside a stellerator (a kind of fusion reactor) is of immensely practical interest. And the answer, from AI, is that you can, in fact, get good control of the plasma.
A 59-year-old conjecture in fusion physics just fell.
Harold Grad (1967): smooth 3D plasma equilibria can't exist unless pressure is constant or there's symmetry.
This week: 3 families of counterexamples. 2 independent papers, posted a day apart. Two found with GPT-6 Astra.
Huge for stellarators.