# Mathematician Accuses OpenAI of Data Theft

Digest AI · Research · published 2026-09-10T11:00:57Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/mathematician-accuses-openai-of-data-theft

## Summary

A mathematician has accused OpenAI of unethical behavior and lack of transparency regarding the data used in its recent mathematical breakthrough. Andreas Thom, a researcher in non-sofic groups, claims that interactions he had with the OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT may have contributed to the success of the company's model in his field. OpenAI acknowledged that their result built heavily on previous work by Thom and Gábor Kun, but did not disclose that Thom and Kun had contributed significantly to the solution. Thom's concerns have been echoed by Tristan Buckmaster, a mathematics professor at New York University, who questioned whether OpenAI's models benefited from unpublished work. Thom's accusations highlight the need for greater transparency in AI research and the potential for data misuse. This incident raises concerns about the ethical standards in the AI industry and the potential for AI models to unfairly benefit from user data without proper attribution.

## Key points

- Thom accused OpenAI of using his interactions with ChatGPT as part of the training data.
- OpenAI acknowledged previous work by Thom and Gábor Kun, but did not disclose their contributions.
- Non-sofic groups are mathematical structures that cannot be approximated by finite ones.

## Why it matters

This incident underscores the need for greater transparency in AI research and highlights the potential for data misuse, which could lead to unfair advantages for AI models.

## Sources

1. [Mathematicians want proof OpenAI didn’t use their work](https://theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/993263/where-does-openai-get-mathematics-training-data) (The Verge AI, 2026-09-10)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Mathematician Accuses OpenAI of Data Theft", 10 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/mathematician-accuses-openai-of-data-theft

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