What Alex Kontorovich has said about Riemann hypothesis

2 quotes · 1 episode · Oct 26, 2026

Alex Kontorovich, Number theorist at Rutgers University working on the Riemann hypothesis and the Lean proof assistant, has been quoted on Riemann hypothesis 2 times in 1 episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, most recently on October 26, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

Kontorovich judges that the AI's quasi-Riemann hypothesis proof combined well-known techniques rather than introducing a genuinely new idea.
“at least in the case of quasi RH, I would not say it's a genuinely new idea. It's a beautiful combination of a lot of things that were very well known”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory (Oct 26, 2026) · Listen from 44:09
Kontorovich says the method behind the AI's quasi-RH proof fundamentally cannot reach the critical line, so the full Riemann hypothesis needs a new idea.
“that method sort of fundamentally can't get down to one half. So a new idea is needed”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory (Oct 26, 2026) · Listen from 1:33:10

Episodes

#503 – AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory
Lex Fridman Podcast · Oct 26, 2026 · 3 h 43 min
Lex Fridman and mathematicians Alex Kontorovich, Ankur Moitra and Steven Brunton discuss AI's claimed proofs of quasi-Riemann, Navier-Stokes, unique games and what it means for mathematics.

In their words

Episodes

Alex Kontorovich on other topics