"I suspect that with six good mathematicians spending their whole careers primarily focused on it, and working together closely, Navier-Stokes might well have fallen already"
There were more than six doing that and it's essentially why it was ripe for AI to finish it off. But the finishing off was quicker than anyone expected
I'm not a mathematician, nor do I know almost anything about the discipline, but it sounds like maybe you do.
What teams of people spent an entire career working together, focused entirely on Navier-Stokes or problems they suspected were related, without any "publish or perish" concerns?
I realize tenure is a thing, but my limited understanding is that a significant amount of time is spent earning it, once you account for Ph.D. program and the years of needed to be granted it.
There were more than six doing that and it's essentially why it was ripe for AI to finish it off. But the finishing off was quicker than anyone expected