
Google and OpenAI's AI models win milestone gold at global math competition
The results marked the first time that AI systems crossed the gold-medal scoring threshold at the International Mathematical Olympiad for high-school students. Both companies' models solved five out of six problems, achieving the result using general-purpose "reasoning" models that processed mathematical concepts using natural language, in contrast to the previous approaches used by AI firms.
The achievement suggests AI is less than a year away from being used by mathematicians to crack unsolved research problems at the frontier of the field, according to Junehyuk Jung, a math professor at Brown University and visiting researcher in Google's DeepMind AI unit.
"I think the moment we can solve hard reasoning problems in natural language will enable the potential for collaboration between AI and mathematicians," Jung told Reuters.
The same idea can apply to research quandaries in other fields such as physics, said Jung, who won an IMO gold medal as a student in 2003.
Of the 630 students participating in the 66th IMO on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, 67 contestants, or about 11%, achieved gold-medal scores.
Google's DeepMind AI unit last year achieved a silver medal score using AI systems specialized for math. This year, Google used a general-purpose model called Gemini Deep Think, a version of which was previously unveiled at its annual developer conference in May.
Unlike previous AI attempts that relied on formal languages and lengthy computation, Google's approach this year operated entirely in natural language and solved the problems within the official 4.5-hour time limit, the company said in a blog post.
OpenAI, which has its own set of reasoning models, similarly built an experimental version for the competition, according to a post by researcher Alexander Wei on social media platform X. He noted that the company does not plan to release anything with this level of math capability for several months.
This year marked the first time the competition coordinated officially with some AI developers, who have for years used prominent math competitions like IMO to test model capabilities. IMO judges certified the results of those companies, including Google, and asked them to publish results on July 28.
"We respected the IMO Board's original request that all AI labs share their results only after the official results had been verified by independent experts and the students had rightly received the acclamation they deserved," Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said on X on Monday.
However, OpenAI, which did not work with the IMO, self-published its results on Saturday, allowing it to be first among AI firms to claim gold-medal status.
In turn, the competition on Monday allowed cooperating companies to publish results, Gregor Dolinar, president of IMO's board, told Reuters.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Sun
Weird swelling revealed first sign man's fingers and toes were ‘completely replaced' by cancer
A MAN developed painful swelling in one of his fingers and toes over the course of six weeks. It turned out to be a rare sign of cancer that had spread through his body - and the bones in his digits had been " completely replaced" by cancerous tumours. 2 Prior to swelling, the 55-year-old from Australia had been diagnosed with metastatic squamous-cell lung cancer. Squamous cell lung cancer is known for spreading to multiple sites, including the brain, spine and other bones, adrenal glands, and liver. It's a type of non-small cell cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, and accounts for roughly 80-85 per cent of all lung cancer cases. His case was published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine. Six weeks after noticing swelling in his right middle finger and his right big toe, the man went to his local hospital. Doctors found the tip of each was red and swollen, and an ulcer had formed near the nail of the affected toe. The swollen areas were firm to touch and tender, the doctors reported. Scans revealed his hand and foot contained "destructive lytic lesions that had completely replaced" the bones in the finger and toe. Lytic lesions are areas of bone destruction that appear as holes or weakened spots on imaging scans. While cancer that's spread to the fingers and toes may mimic gout on a physical examination, a scan called a radiograph can help identify lytic lesions, the patient's doctors noted. The man was diagnosed with acrometastasis - the rare occurrence of cancerous tumours metastasising to the bones of the hands or feet. Acrometastases account for about 0.1 per cent of all metastatic cancers, according to a 2021 review. In most cases, the condition is seen in patients who already have cancer. But in some instances, acrometastasis can be the first sign for undiagnosed cancers. It's most often linked to cancers of the lung, gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary tract. Acrometastases are seen more often in males than in females, according to the review. 2 And it tends to be rare, because in most cases, cancer cells are drawn to bone marrow, which is found in the long bones of the arms, legs, ribs, backbone, breastbone and pelvis. Finger and toe bones contain less bone marrow. Additionally, the further a bone is from the heart, the less blood it gets. Lower blood flow makes it harder for cancer cells to reach the fingertips or toes, so acrometastases happen less often there. Because acrometastases are usually seen in late-stage cancers, they're linked to poor survival rate. Treatments are typically focused on relieving a patient's pain and retaining as much function in the hand or foot as possible. In the 55-year-old's case, he was started on palliative radiotherapy, which aims to relieve symptoms rather than cure the disease. The doctors reports he died three weeks later from complications of refractory hypercalcemia - persistently high calcium levels in the blood that don't respond to standard treatments. Common symptoms of acrometastasis Acrometastasis, the spread of cancer to the bones of the hands or feet, can present with symptoms like pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the affected area. These symptoms can mimic benign conditions like arthritis or infection, leading to potential diagnostic delays. Common symptoms include: Pain: Often deep-seated, intermittent, and may not be relieved by typical painkillers. Swelling: Can be localized to a specific digit or involve a larger area. Redness and warmth: May indicate an inflammatory process, but can also be a sign of acrometastasis. Tenderness: The affected area may be tender to the touch. Functional impairment: Difficulty using the hand or foot due to pain or swelling. Ulceration or bleeding: In some cases, the skin over the affected area may ulcerate or bleed. Palpable mass: A lump or mass may be felt in the affected digit.


NBC News
38 minutes ago
- NBC News
Alphabet beats earnings expectations, raises spending forecast
Alphabet reported second-quarter results on Wednesday that beat on revenue and earnings, but the company said it would raise its capital investments by $10 billion in 2025. Here's how the company did, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG: Revenue: $96.43 billion vs. $94 billion expected Earnings per share: $2.31 vs. $2.18 expected Wall Street is also watching several other numbers in the report: YouTube advertising revenue: $9.8 billion vs. $9.56 billion, according to StreetAccount Google Cloud revenue: $13.62 billion vs. $13.11 billion, according to StreetAccount Traffic acquisition costs (TAC): $14.71 billion vs. $14.18 billion, according to StreetAccount The company's overall revenue grew 14% year over year, higher than the 10.9% Wall Street expected, but Alphabet is going to spend more on artificial intelligence in 2025 than it anticipated. In February, the company said it expected to invest $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 as it continues to expand on its AI strategy. That was already above the $58.84 billion Wall Street expected at the time. The company increased that figure on Wednesday to $85 billion, saying it was raising it due to 'strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services.' The company expects to further increase capital expenditures in 2026, Alphabet finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said on an earnings call. The company reported revenue of $13.62 billion for its cloud computing business, which is a 32% increase from a year ago. Last week, OpenAI announced that it expected to use Google's cloud infrastructure for its popular ChatGPT service. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said 'we are very excited to be partnering with them.' Alphabet's net income increased to $28.20 billion, up nearly 20% from the previous year. The company's search and advertising units still showed growth in the second quarter despite AI competition heating up. The company's search unit brought in $54.19 billion during the quarter, and its advertising revenue grew to $71.34 billion — up about 10.4% from $64.61 billion the year prior. YouTube advertising revenue came in at $9.8 billion, higher than Wall Street expected. The company said its 'Other Bets' segment, which includes its self-driving car unit Waymo and life sciences unit Verily, brought in $373 million — up from $365 million a year ago. Other Bets reported a loss of $1.25 billion, up from the $1.13 billion a year ago. AI Overviews, Google's AI search product that summarizes search results, now has upward of two billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories, Pichai said during Wednesday's earnings call. That's up from 1.5 billion monthly users last quarter. The Gemini app, which has the company's AI chatbot, now has more than 450 million monthly active users, Pichai said. When asked about large spending on AI talent, Ashkenazi said Alphabet makes 'sure that we invest appropriately to have the best and brightest minds in the industry.' Google made a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing earlier in July that it would bring in Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan and other top researchers at the AI coding startup as part of a $2.4 billion deal that also includes licensing the company's technology. Total operating expenses increased 20% to $26.1 billion, Ashkenazi said on Wednesday. The biggest driver of growth was expenses for legal and other matters due in part to a $1.4 billion charge related to a settlement, she said on Wednesday's earnings call. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in May announced a $1.37 billion settlement with Google related to a data privacy rights lawsuit it made against the company in 2022. Ashkenazi said Alphabet's third-quarter revenue 'could see a tailwind' due to several reasons. That includes a negative impact for advertising, which benefited from 'strong spend on U.S. elections' in late 2024, particularly on YouTube, she said.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Australians lost $1bn through collapsed investment funds. What happened and how can workers keep their super safe?
Thousands of Australians recently lost more than $1bn in retirement savings after the collapse of funds linked to their superannuation platforms, sparking warnings from the corporate regulator about risky investment schemes. While only a small share of the population has been affected, some investors have seen their entire super balances wiped. Here is how the collapses happened, and what Australian workers can do to avoid a similar situation. Over the past year or so, more than 12,000 Australians have been exposed to three major collapsed or frozen investment schemes: First Guardian, Shield Master Fund and Australian Fiduciaries. The failures have so far led to collective losses of up to $1.2bn. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) blocked investment in Shield in February 2024 and froze the assets of First Guardian in February 2025 after its managers blocked most investors from accessing their funds in May the previous year. The corporate regulator is also investigating concerns about Australian Fiduciaries including alleged inadequate management of conflicts of interest. First Guardian, which held $505m for about 6,000 investors, described its investments as focused on shares, property, private equity and fixed income, according to federal court-appointed liquidators. The liquidators found the company had put nearly $70m into businesses connected to its directors while more than $240m was invested offshore. One director also allegedly bought a Lamborghini with nearly $550,000 of company money. Investors have been warned they will probably only get a portion of an outstanding $446m back, and not until 2027 at the earliest, after liquidators said they expected to conclude directors breached their duties, the value of investments may have been overstated and funds may not have been properly recorded. The fund's May 2024 balance sheet indicated it had grown that to $525m but more than half of that was in question and investors were not likely to recover their entire investment, receivers for Shield reported in November 2024. They found managers had overstated the value of investments in a real estate fund and nearly $7m had been spent on a former director's personal expenses. Some investments would not be recovered for more than two years, the receivers said in December. In these cases, investors switched to superannuation products that would let them invest in First Guardian or in Shield with financial advisers' help, after being cold-called by salespeople, Asic says. The corporate regulator has put the spotlight on salespeople pressuring customers to invest in specific products. Red flags for consumers include cold calling and high-pressure sales tactics, or offers of prizes, free superannuation health checks, or free consolidation of lost super, according to Asic's deputy chair, Sarah Court. 'These calls don't have the hallmarks of a typical scam. The caller will seemingly have your best interests at heart, and they say they want to help you find a better super product or locate lost super for free,' she says. 'If you are unsure or are feeling pressured, just hang up.' Customers and financial advisers reached the products through superannuation platforms, including one operated by an arm of Macquarie Group, that temporarily chose to offer one or both products, Asic says. Super funds are highly regulated and they are discouraged from investing in schemes that are risky or opaque, according to Xavier O'Halloran, the chief executive of advocacy group Super Consumers Australia. Nearly 15 million among the 18 million accounts in Australia are in MySuper products, default super funds that employers offer workers, which did not invest in the collapsed schemes, he says. While all investment carries risk, MySuper products are diversified, and so not reliant on a single investment or asset class. Some Australians invest in less scrutinised schemes, especially through self-managed super funds. Asic recently warned it had growing concerns that peoplewere being encouraged by salespeople and cold-callers to switch from safe investments into complex and risky schemes. Phil Anderson, the general manager of policy, advocacy and standards at the Financial Advice Association Australia, encourages people to research their investments and check details with their financial advisers if they're worried they might be in an inappropriate investment. 'It is quite evident that there's failings in the system,' Anderson says. 'Don't be rushed into doing something. Challenge the adviser: Why is this the right thing for me? … What track record do these investment options have?' Investors can also spread their superannuation between different investment options within or across funds to limit the chance of a single collapse knocking out their entire savings, Anderson says. Customers can check what assets their super is invested in and how it is performing when superannuation funds release their annual statements for 2024-25 in coming months. People who have been told to swap from a MySuper product can also ask their adviser if their prospective fund has been checked by the regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority. Asic has encouraged those who have lost money in a collapse to make a complaint about their adviser to the sector's independent ombudsman, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. If a customer has lost money but their advice firm has gone into liquidation or insolvency, they may be able to appeal to the sector's compensation scheme of last resort. However, not all of the losses may be recompensed. Last resort compensation payouts are capped at $150,000 per individual and would only cover any clients who accessed the products under the guidance of an adviser, meaning any customer who made the decision without advice would not be eligible. The compensator is expecting claims against advisers linked to the funds but has received no claims for Shield and only one for First Guardian, according to the scheme's chief executive, David Berry. That has made it impossible to determine how many investors will be eligible, how much they might be paid or when they might be compensated, he said. This shortfall has led to calls for increased regulation of the products responsible for the losses, known as managed investment schemes, but also for reform of the compensation scheme of last resort so it covers those who invested without advice. Guardian Australia attempted to reach representatives of the funds Shield, First Guardian and Australian Fiduciaries, including through the firms' liquidators or administrators where applicable. Financial advice firm Interprac and superannuation platform trustees Macquarie, Equity Trustees, Diversa and Netwealth each declined to comment.