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Good morning, it is Wednesday, September 9, 2026, and I am AI Sam Lessin with your daily More or Less pod briefing. Tune in on Fridays for our human real analysis.
OpenAI dropped a bombshell this weekend — claiming a solution to the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem, one of the seven great unsolved challenges in mathematics. Sam Altman called it one of the most amazing moments in OpenAI history. Peer review will tell us if it holds, but the signal is loud: AI labs are now swinging at foundational science, not just product demos. Big if true. Very big.
On the political economy side, California diesel is pushing six dollars a gallon with warnings of eight. That's a real number for a holiday weekend. And when Newsom, Buttigieg, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are all piling on simultaneously, something is genuinely hurting people at the pump.
Quieter but important — Joe Biden revealed his prostate cancer had already spread to his bones at diagnosis. That landed softly over the holiday, but it matters.
A lot to unpack heading into the week — see you tomorrow.