Latest news with #Japan-based
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
A programmer beat an OpenAI tool at coding. He says the AI made him push himself to win.
AI hasn't yet killed the coding star. On Wednesday, a programmer from Poland, Przemysław Dębiak, beat an OpenAI tool at the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 Heuristic Contest in Tokyo, which is sponsored by the company. "I was so tired. I actually felt at some point that I should take a break," Dębiak, who competed under the name "Psyho," told Business Insider over a video call on Friday. "But at the same time, I was very close to getting a score comparable to the model," he added. That pushed him to dig deep, using "all the remaining energy" to beat the AI. "I'm trying to give 100% of what I have and try to stay alive," he said, adding that without OpenAI's model, his score "would be much, much lower." Dębiak's victory drew the attention of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In a post on X on Wednesday, Altman wrote, "good job psyho." When reached for comment, OpenAI directed BI to a post on X, where it had written, "Our model took 2nd place at the AtCoder Heuristics World Finals! Congrats to the champion for holding us off this time." The contest is held annually and run by AtCoder, a Japan-based competitive programming site. Yoichi Iwata, the competition's administrator, told BI that OpenAI's model outperformed those who used similar approaches, but Dębiak "arrived at a completely different solution." "We expected a human to win, and were rather surprised that the AI was able to secure second place," Iwata added. "While the AI surpassed humans in terms of optimization ability, we believe it still fell short of human creativity." The competition's results page shows Dębiak prevailing over competitors from Japan, Georgia, and France. On Friday, Dębiak shared a results page on X that showed him as the competition's victor and OpenAI in second place. "The results are official now and my lead over AI increased from 5.5% to 9.5%," he wrote. Update: I'm alive and well The results are official now and my lead over AI increased from 5.5% to 9.5%😎 Honestly, the hype feels kind of bizarre. Never expected so many people would be interested in programming contests. Guess this means I should drop in here more often👀 — Psyho (@FakePsyho) July 17, 2025 After winning the competition on Wednesday, Dębiak celebrated his win online, writing, "Humanity has prevailed (for now!)", adding that he was "completely exhausted" after just 10 hours of sleep in three days. He told BI he flew from Warsaw to Tokyo for the competition. The programmer wrote on X that he did not use AI tools, just "regular" Visual Studio Code, a software development platform, with "some basic autocomplete to speed up repetitive stuff." Dębiak, 41, told BI he only found out about OpenAI's entry a week before the contest. "No one knew that this would be, to some extent, an exhibition match between humans and AI," he said. The stars aligned for the human AI will win in cases that require straightforward engineering — implementing algorithms, solving the problem, and optimizing code — because it's simply faster, Dębiak told BI. But in longer contests where programmers "do everything from scratch," he said, AI has a harder time keeping up. "The longer the contest is, the more chances for humans and less chances for AI," he said, adding that he overtook OpenAI's tool near the end of the 10-hour competition. Dębiak said he competed in "algorithmic optimization," where the goal was to write the most efficient solution to a complex problem. In this competition, he had to code a program that guided robots across a 30x30 grid using the fewest moves possible. Reflecting on the competition, Dębiak said the variables lined up in his favor. "It's easy to imagine a different problem where AI would win and all the humans would be like far, far away," he added. AI has famously beaten humans in other high-profile competitions. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue AI machine beat chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov, and in 2016, Google DeepMind's AlphaGo beat Go world champion Lee Sedol. In February, Altman said that by the end of the year, OpenAI could surpass humans in coding competitions. AI is already writing big chunks of code at Microsoft, Google, and Meta, the companies' CEOs have all said in recent months. Altman has said that demand for software engineers could eventually dip. "My basic assumption is that each software engineer will just do much, much more for a while. And then at some point, yeah, maybe we do need less software engineers," he said in March, referring to OpenAI's hiring strategy.
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Elix Provides AI Drug Discovery Platform 'Elix Discovery™' to Eisai
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elix, Inc. (CEO: Shinya Yuki / Headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter 'Elix') is pleased to announce that its AI drug discovery platform, Elix Discovery™ ( has been adopted by Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter 'Eisai'). Traditional drug discovery involves identifying promising compounds from vast numbers of candidates, which leads to long development timelines, high costs, and low success rates—major challenges in pharmaceutical R&D. The application of AI technologies to drug discovery is expected to address these challenges and dramatically improve the efficiency of the process. In particular, AI-driven molecular design and profile prediction enable efficient design of promising drug candidate compounds and narrowing down synthesis and evaluation targets, thereby accelerating the entire discovery process. Elix is a Japan-based AI drug discovery company with a mission to "Rethinking drug discovery," providing services to pharmaceutical companies, universities, research institutions, and biotech startups. Our flagship AI software platform, Elix Discovery™, launched in 2022, was developed under the concept of 'truly usable by medicinal chemists.' *¹ Elix Discovery™ features an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that enables automatic construction of optimal compound profile predictive models. It includes advanced structure generation capabilities with the strength of proposing molecular structures that 'humans would not conceive.' The platform allows for fast compound design by optimizing various parameters, including predictive models created on the GUI, through the use of carefully selected generative models including Elix's proprietary models. It also supports Ligand-Based Drug Design (LBDD) and Structure-Based Drug Design (SBDD) methods, including docking simulations, offering users the flexibility to test a wide range of approaches. In addition to providing this platform, Elix aims to contribute to the creation of innovative drug candidates through joint research projects with partner companies, leveraging its extensive experience and expertise in combination with the latest AI technologies. * 2 Notably, Elix Discovery™ offers plans that include multiple AI models trained using data from 16 pharmaceutical companies. For details, please refer to the July 15, 2025 press release. *³ Comment from Taro Terauchi, Head of Integrated Chemistry, Eisai Eisai has been working to integrate the small-molecule drug-discovery expertise we have cultivated over many years with cutting-edge AI technology. We expect that the introduction of Elix Discovery™ will further accelerate this integration and drive major innovation in the drug-discovery process. Going forward, we will continue to advance AI-powered molecular design to deliver even greater value to patients. Comment from Shinya Yuki, CEO of Elix We are honored that Eisai, one of Japan's leading pharmaceutical companies, has adopted our AI drug discovery platform, Elix Discovery™. Designed from the outset to maximize researchers' capabilities on the concept that 'medicinal chemists can truly use it,' we believe that the combination of our cutting-edge AI technology with Eisai's extensive drug discovery expertise and exceptional research capabilities will accelerate the creation of innovative new medicines. We look forward to collaborating with Eisai to shape the future of drug discovery together. References: *¹ July 15, 2022 press release: 'Elix launches 'Elix Discovery™,' the only all-in-one platform that provides everything needed for AI drug discovery, from models for property prediction and molecular design to AI consulting and implementation support' URL: *² April 15, 2025 press release: 'Elix and PRISM BioLab Join Forces to Accelerate AI-Driven Drug Discovery for Challenging Protein-Protein Interaction Targets' URL: *³ July 15, 2025 press release: 'Elix and LINC Become the First in the World to Commercialize an AI Drug Discovery Platform Incorporating Federated Learning-Based AI Models Trained on Data from 16 Pharmaceutical Companies' URL: About Eisai Eisai's Corporate Concept is 'to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides.' Under this Concept (also known as our human health care (hhc) Concept), we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology. In addition, our continued commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is demonstrated by our work on various activities together with global partners. For more information about Eisai, please visit (for global headquarters: Eisai Co., Ltd.), and connect with us on X, LinkedIn and Facebook. About Elix Elix is an AI drug discovery company with a mission to 'Rethinking drug discovery.' Visit for more details. If your organization is interested in learning more about Elix Discovery™, please feel free to contact us via the details below.
Economic Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
FDI hike in PSBs hinges on RBI review of voting, shareholding norms
The government will decide on increasing foreign investment in public sector banks after the Reserve Bank of India reviews voting rights. Current rules limit foreign investment to 20%. The RBI is reviewing shareholding limits for private banks too. India allows 74% foreign investment in private banks. The government hopes for a strategic sale in IDBI Bank by October. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The government's final decision on any further increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in public sector banks (PSBs) is contingent on the Reserve Bank of India's review of norms on voting rights and shareholding limits, people familiar with the matter government is mandated to hold a minimum 51% stake in state-owned lenders, with overseas investment capped at 20%.The RBI is reviewing the existing structure under which voting rights for promoters of private banks are capped at 26% and financial institutions can hold a maximum 15% stake, said the people current norms mandate that promoters of non-state banks should reduce their stake to 26% over 15 years. The shareholding limit is capped at 10% for individuals and non-financial institutions subject to RBI's approval."The regulator has indicated that a comprehensive review of foreign shareholding norms is on," said one of the persons cited. "Let them come out with new regulations, and based on that, we will take a call on allowing increased foreign investment in PSBs."India allows 74% foreign investment in private banks."There is a lot of headroom available to meet the cap on foreign investment in PSBs, so there is no immediate requirement for a change in existing laws," said the official cited government and the banking regulator have received various suggestions, including allowing promoters to retain voting rights proportionate to their shareholding, another government official RBI is in consultation with all stakeholders, including the government, the person said."There is wide interest in the Indian economy and financial institutions because they are well regulated and capitalised, in fact more than some financial institutions in developed economies," he an interview with ET in June, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that India would welcome more banks."The banking sector here is going through one of the best cyclical phases in which scope for expansion is there," she had said. "They are expanding as well, and there is interest in foreign banks coming into India because they see this expansion."She said the central bank should give its decision on applications, one way or another, within a reasonable government is hopeful of a strategic sale in IDBI Bank by October. The government and Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) are looking to divest stakes of up to 60.72% in the May, Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) bought a 20% stake in Yes Bank for ₹13,482 crore, in the largest cross-border deal in the Indian banking sector.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
FDI hike in PSBs hinges on RBI review of voting, shareholding norms
The government's final decision on any further increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in public sector banks (PSBs) is contingent on the Reserve Bank of India's review of norms on voting rights and shareholding limits, people familiar with the matter said. The government is mandated to hold a minimum 51% stake in state-owned lenders, with overseas investment capped at 20%. The RBI is reviewing the existing structure under which voting rights for promoters of private banks are capped at 26% and financial institutions can hold a maximum 15% stake, said the people cited. The current norms mandate that promoters of non-state banks should reduce their stake to 26% over 15 years. The shareholding limit is capped at 10% for individuals and non-financial institutions subject to RBI's approval. "The regulator has indicated that a comprehensive review of foreign shareholding norms is on," said one of the persons cited. "Let them come out with new regulations, and based on that, we will take a call on allowing increased foreign investment in PSBs." Live Events India allows 74% foreign investment in private banks. "There is a lot of headroom available to meet the cap on foreign investment in PSBs, so there is no immediate requirement for a change in existing laws," said the official cited above. ET Bureau The government and the banking regulator have received various suggestions, including allowing promoters to retain voting rights proportionate to their shareholding, another government official said. The RBI is in consultation with all stakeholders, including the government, the person said. "There is wide interest in the Indian economy and financial institutions because they are well regulated and capitalised, in fact more than some financial institutions in developed economies," he added. In an interview with ET in June, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that India would welcome more banks. "The banking sector here is going through one of the best cyclical phases in which scope for expansion is there," she had said. "They are expanding as well, and there is interest in foreign banks coming into India because they see this expansion." She said the central bank should give its decision on applications, one way or another, within a reasonable timeframe. The government is hopeful of a strategic sale in IDBI Bank by October. The government and Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) are looking to divest stakes of up to 60.72% in the lender. In May, Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) bought a 20% stake in Yes Bank for ₹13,482 crore, in the largest cross-border deal in the Indian banking sector.
New Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Investors brace for Japan bond market blowout as national election nears
TOKYO: Japanese government bond investors are bracing for a potential power shift in upper house elections this weekend that could strain the country's already frail finances, with long-term yields soaring to multi-decade highs as the vote nears. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's rapidly sliding popularity suggests even his modest goal of retaining a majority is unachievable, with a new opinion poll from national broadcaster NHK handing the ruling Liberal Democratic Party its lowest score since its return to power in 2012. Defeat in Sunday's vote could bring anything from a shift in the composition of the coalition to Ishiba's resignation, though even the least disruptive scenario is still expected to see more stimulus-minded political viewpoints gain sway. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield climbed to the highest since October 2008 at 1.60 per cent on Tuesday. The 20- and 30-year bonds had yet to trade as of 0039 GMT, but a day earlier, the former soared to the highest since October 2000 at 2.63 per cent while the latter leapt 13 basis points to put it at 3.17 per cent, just shy of an all-time peak. "As the noise towards yet more fiscal spending picks up, we have increased our underweight in Japan as a whole," said Ales Koutny, head of international rates at Vanguard. "Japan is going down a similar path as the UK did a couple of years ago," Koutny said. "If no fiscal restraint, then the bond market will start to put pressure on the economy." Japan's debt burden is the highest in the developed world at about 250 per cent of GDP. Concerns about promises of fiscal largesse from opposition parties backing tax cuts were instrumental in sending so-called superlong JGB yields to record peaks in late May, with the 30-year yield hitting 3.19 per cent and the 40-year yield surging to 3.68 per cent. The Ministry of Finance was able to restore some calm to the market with plans to reduce issuance of 20-, 30- and 40-year bonds to address a supply-demand imbalance for those tenors, after traditional demand from life insurers dropped sharply this year. The Bank of Japan's reticence to raise interest rates further against an uncertain global economic backdrop is also keeping investors sidelined. "If such a demand-less market continues and investors foresee no rate hikes within this fiscal year, JGB volatility will go up, especially in the long end," said Kentaro Hatono, a fund manager at Asset Management One, who says he's adopting a "wait-and-see" stance due to the risks of the yield curve steepening after the election outcome. Barclays calculates that the rise in 30-year yields currently factors in about a three percentage-point cut to Japan's 10 per cent consumption tax rate. "Even if the ruling parties retain their majority in the upper house, they would still be unable to pass budget bills, including the upcoming supplementary budget, without the cooperation of the opposition parties," the bank's Japan-based analysts wrote in a research note. "In this context, we believe there will likely be a convergence toward an expansionary budget proposal." All three of the leading opposition parties espouse some form of consumption tax cuts, with the populist, right-wing Sanseito party proposing a phasing out of VAT altogether. The policy has gained sway with the public as well: a recent poll by the Asahi newspaper showed 68 per cent of voters thought a sales tax cut was the best way to cushion the blow from rising living costs. Fiscally hawkish Ishiba has eschewed that option in favour of cash handouts. A poor election result for the ruling coalition will trigger a sell-off in super-long JGBs by so-called real money investors, including life insurers and institutional investors, predicts Toshinobu Chiba, a fund manager at Simplex Asset Management. "If the opposition parties win, the government deficit will see a huge expansion," Chiba said. "The JGB yield curve will steepen by a lot."
