Preprint on GitHub claims the Exponential Time Hypothesis is false
A preprint titled "The Exponential Time Hypothesis Is False" has appeared in OpenAI's math repository on GitHub. It drew attention on the tech site Hacker News, but the source gives no details of the paper's content.
A PDF preprint titled "The Exponential Time Hypothesis Is False" has been published in OpenAI's math repository on GitHub. The file path carries the date 25 October 2026. A preprint is a scientific paper released before formal peer review at a journal or conference.
The Exponential Time Hypothesis is an assumption in computer science holding that some hard computational problems, such as the 3-SAT logic problem, cannot be solved substantially faster than in exponential time. Many conclusions about the limits of algorithm efficiency rest on this assumption. If the paper's claim proved correct, those conclusions would be affected.
Reaction on Hacker News
The preprint was submitted for discussion on the tech news site Hacker News. The post had 217 points and 93 comments. It also links to another post announcing three new discoveries in mathematics, computer science and physics.
What the source does not provide
The available material does not describe the paper's content, its authors or its proof method. It also does not say whether independent experts have checked the result. For that reason, the paper's claim cannot yet be considered confirmed.
