Snake-in-the-Box was probably the best math problem I'll ever find. I encountered it at a moment when there was still progress to be made that was within my reach. I had great fun working on it.

I was feeling urgency to get more results before anyone brought AI to bear on the problem. I didn't know when that day would come but I figured it was inevitable.

Last month, a team of 10 people published Snake-in-the-Box results significantly exceeding what I had been able to achieve. They didn't (yet) say how they did it but it's likely AI played a big role. I probably can't compete anymore.

I'm not alone in this regard. AI is making inroads in various areas of mathematics. People way more skilled than I are being outdone by AI.

It's time for me to turn my attention to something else, which won't feel the same. I've come to have a certain affection for the Snake-in-the-Box problem.

It's like I'm a teenage boy who's had his heart broken, my mom is telling me there are other fish in the sea, and I want to roll my eyes and say, "Mom, girls are not fungible."