OpenAI, Anthropic say their models disproved Exponential Time Hypothesis

[The Information] OpenAI and Anthropic both said Monday that their internal AI models had disproven the Exponential Time Hypothesis, a longstanding computer science theorem that predicts the minimum difficulty of solving a certain category of problems, according to The Information. Cryptographers had long assumed the hypothesis was true and built other findings on that assumption. Matthew Green, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University and founder of encryption startup Zeutro, said disproving the hypothesis won't endanger any current encryption methods, but the finding is a big theoretical step showing that some problems are easier to solve than cryptographers had thought. That means cryptographers could also be wrong about other assumptions underlying core encryption methods such as elliptic curve encryption, a method underlying the majority of internet traffic, which would create a scramble to find new ways to keep information on the internet secure.