All but the last 20 minutes of this episode should be comprehensible to non-physicists.

Steve explains where frontier AI models are in understanding frontier theoretical physics. The best analogy is to a “brilliant but unreliable genius colleague”!

He describes a specific example: the use of AI in recent research in quantum field theory (Tomonaga-Schwinger integrability conditions applied to state-dependent modifications of quantum mechanics), work now accepted for publication in Physics Letters B after peer review. Remarkably, the main idea in the paper originated de novo from GPT-5.

Links:

• X discussion -

steve hsu@hsu_steve

I think I’ve published the first research article in theoretical physics in which the main idea came from an AI - GPT5 in this case. The physics research paper itself (on QFT and state-dependent quantum mechanics) has been published in Physics Letters B. I've written an

1:51 AM · Dec 3, 2025

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128 Reposts · 899 Likes

• Companion paper: Theoretical Physics With Generative AI - https://drive.google.com/file/d/16sxJuwsHoi-fvTFbri9Bu8B9bqA6lr1H/view

• Physics paper - https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15935 | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325008111

• Related discussion of AI and theoretical physics with Prof. Nirmalya Kajuri (IIT) and Prof. Jonathan Oppenheim (UCL) -

• Related video: AIs Win Math Olympiad Gold: Prof. Lin Yang (UCLA) – Manifold #97 -

Chapter markers:

• (00:00) - Intro: AI discussion with specialized physics at the end

• (03:40) - The current AI landscape for science: frontier models, Co-Scientist, and recent math breakthroughs

• (11:01) - Why models help and why they fail: errors, deep confabulation, and the research risk

• (15:54) - The Generator–Verifier workflow: how chaining model inference suppresses mistakes

• (23:30) - Project origin: testing models on Hsu’s older nonlinear QM/QFT work

• (30:35) - The “GPT-5 moment”: Tomonaga–Schwinger angle appears and produces the key equation

• (40:35) - Wild goose chases & a practical heuristic: axiomatic QFT detour; Generator-Verifier convergence

• (51:44) - Referee-driven test case: Kaplan–Rajendran model, past-lightcone geometry, and verification

• (55:55) - Tooling & outlook: automation prototype, chaining into “supermodels,” where this is headed

• (59:39) - Physics slides (advanced): TS integrability, microcausality, and why nonlinearity threatens locality

Audio-only version and transcript:

https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/theoretical-physics-with-generative-ai-101