Can AI agents solve open problems in computational mathematics?

Iteris is an AI agent designed to tackle open problems in computational mathematics—a harder task than pure theorem proving because it requires numerical experiments, algorithm design, and adversarial constructions. Applied to two problems from a recent Simons Workshop, the system generated numerical evidence and proof drafts that, after expert correction, yielded verified results: a phase diagram comparing optimization algorithms and a counterexample disproving a conjecture about QR factorization. The work shows AI can contribute to real research workflows, though human mathematicians remain essential for validation.