CURRENT AFFAIRS | JUNE 4, 2026
An OpenAI internal model has produced a fresh construction for the planar unit-distance problem — an 80-year-old question posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős. Although OpenAI later clarified it was “not a proof” of the full result, the episode — together with Google DeepMind’s AlphaProof Nexus solving nine other Erdős problems — marks AI’s transition from retrieval to genuine reasoning. The legal questions about authorship, patentability and data-protection follow close behind.
Constitutional & Legal Framework
- Information Technology Act, 2000 + IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2021 (amended 2023) — India’s present AI / online-content regulator.
- Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) — consent + purpose-limitation for AI training datasets.
- Copyright Act 1957, Section 2(d) — definition of “author”; computer-generated works under s. 2(d)(vi).
- Naruto v Slater (US 9th Cir.) — by analogy, a non-human (and so an AI) cannot own copyright.
- Patents Act 1970, Section 3(k) — bars “computer programmes per se”, complicating AI-invention patents.
- EU AI Act 2024 — first horizontal AI regulation globally; influencing India’s draft Digital India Bill.
- NITI Aayog’s “Responsible AI for All” Principles 2021.
Why This Matters For CLAT 2027
- AI-authorship under Section 2(d), Copyright Act is rich Legal Reasoning material — apply Naruto analogically.
- Section 3(k) bar on “computer programmes per se” is a recurring patent-law principle question.
- The DPDP Act consent + purpose-limitation framework is current-affairs gold.
- EU AI Act’s tiered risk model is comparative-law reading and a likely Comprehension passage.
Key Facts At A Glance
| Problem | Planar unit-distance (Erdős) |
| Curator | Thomas Bloom (erdosproblems.com) |
| Rival announcement | DeepMind AlphaProof Nexus — 9 problems |
| OpenAI clarification | “Not a proof”; new construction family |
| India AI regulator | IT Act 2000 + IT Rules 2021 (am. 2023) |
| Data law | DPDP Act, 2023 |
| Patent bar | Section 3(k), Patents Act 1970 |
| Copyright author | Section 2(d), Copyright Act 1957 |
| EU benchmark | EU AI Act, 2024 |
| Indian principles | NITI Aayog Responsible AI (2021) |
Memory Trick / Mnemonic
ERDOS → Erdős problems (top 10 unsolved) · Retrieval-to-reasoning leap · DeepMind AlphaProof Nexus · Original construction (not proof) · Skepticism still healthy.
Practice Quiz — 10 CLAT-Style Questions
Click an option to reveal the answer and explanation.
Quick answers
Which 80-year-old problem in geometric combinatorics did the OpenAI model reportedly make progress on?
Planar unit-distance problem. OpenAI announced new constructions for the planar unit-distance problem posed by Paul Erdős — asking the max pairs of points exactly 1 unit apart in a planar set of n points.
Which Cambridge mathematician maintains the public registry of Erdős problems (erdosproblems.com)?
Thomas Bloom. Thomas Bloom curates erdosproblems.com which catalogues Erdős's open problems; he ranked the planar unit-distance problem in the top 10 unsolved.
Which Google DeepMind system was subsequently announced to have solved nine Erdős problems?
AlphaProof Nexus. DeepMind's AlphaProof Nexus was announced to have solved 9 Erdős problems shortly after the OpenAI claim.
Which Indian statute, with its 2023 Rules, presently governs intermediary liability and AI-deployed online content?
Information Technology Act 2000. The IT Act 2000 with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics) Rules 2021 (amended 2023) is the existing AI / online-content regulator.
Under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970, which subject matter is barred from patent protection?
Computer programmes per se. Section 3(k) excludes 'a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms' — making patentability of AI inventions difficult in India.
The Naruto v Slater 'monkey selfie' US case is cited to support which proposition relevant to AI authorship?
A non-human cannot own copyright. In Naruto v Slater the US 9th Circuit held that a non-human (a macaque) cannot own copyright under the Copyright Act — by analogy, an AI cannot be a copyright owner.
