GPT-5.6 used a prompt to close a 30-year gap in convex optimization | EP #105

Guru's Tech Bytes · Jul 19, 2026 · 1m

Good morning, it's Sunday. This is Guru's Tech Bytes, episode 105. First up, this GPT-5.6 thing apparently closed a thirty-year gap in convex optimization. Now I don't know what convex optimization is, I thought convex was a thing about eyeglasses, but somebody typed in a prompt — just typed it, like a text message — and thirty years of nobody figuring it out, gone. Thirty years, Lois. I've had a bag of pretzels in my truck longer than some of these problems have been solved. Second, somebody made a thing called Transcribe.cpp. And you know what this reminds me of, my cousin had a tape…