OpenAI's AI crushes coding legends in 10-hour programming contest, but one human still beat the bot
His final score? An astonishing 1,812,272,558,909 points. OpenAI's model, listed under the name "OpenAIAHC," finished second with 1,654,675,725,406 points, just 9.5 per cent behind. The AI still managed to outperform the remaining ten elite human programmers, who had each qualified for the competition through year-long rankings.
A test of enduranceThe competition's format was gruelling. Participants had 600 minutes, a full 10 hours, to tackle a single complex optimisation problem under the Heuristic Contest division. These problems fall under the NP-hard category, requiring contestants to use clever, often imperfect strategies to reach the best possible solutions within strict time constraints.All competitors, human and AI alike, were provided with identical hardware to ensure fairness. Submissions were permitted in any programming language supported by AtCoder, with a five-minute cooldown period between each one.Debiak's victory has become a modern-day metaphor for the resilience of human intellect in the face of rapid automation.The contest not only tested raw programming ability but also became a symbolic moment in the ongoing debate about AI's growing role in skilled professions.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commentsadvertisementThe symbolic nature of the match wasn't lost on OpenAI. In a post on X, the company wrote: 'Our model took 2nd place at the AtCoder Heuristics World Finals! Congrats to the champion for holding us off this time.'OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also acknowledged Debiak's victory, posting a simple but telling message: 'Good job psyho.'For Debiak, it was a proud but exhausting win, made even more significant given his own history with OpenAI, where he previously worked. The result served as a reminder that, while AI continues to grow in capability, human ingenuity, under pressure, still holds its ground.However, OpenAI called the second-place finish a milestone for AI in competitive programming raises broader questions about the future of such contests. If AI models can already rival world-class humans under fair conditions, how long will it be before they dominate completely?For now, the balance has been maintained. But as AI tools become faster, smarter, and more autonomous, contests like AtCoder may increasingly become battlegrounds not just for high scores—but for the soul of programming itself.- Ends
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