OpenAI's latest experimental AI model reportedly gave a near-gold performance on the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), but its premature announcement drew criticism for eclipsing the student competitors the contest was meant to honor.
What Happened: On Saturday, OpenAI's Alexander Wei revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that the company's new large language model (LLM) solved 5 out of 6 IMO problems under authentic exam conditions—matching the performance of gold medalists in what's widely considered the most prestigious and difficult high school math competition globally.
"This is an LLM doing math and not a specific formal math system; it is part of our main push towards general intelligence," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X, calling the achievement a decade-long dream come true.
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However, the announcement stirred backlash among the math and AI communities. Thang Luong, a lead AI researcher at Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google DeepMind, replied to a report that the IMO had asked AI companies to delay announcements until after the closing ceremony to allow young human competitors to be recognized without being overshadowed.
Luong added that without an official evaluation from IMO's private marking rubric, OpenAI's claim of "gold-level" performance was inaccurate. "With one point deducted, it is a Silver, not Gold," he said.
Elon Musk, whose AI venture xAI earlier this month launched Grok 4, also commented, comparing OpenAI’s feat to when AI beat humans at chess and Go. He said math competitions will soon be "trivial" for AI.
Why It's Important: The incident highlights growing tensions around AI's rapid progress and the ethics of showcasing machine achievements in human-centered spaces.
It also underscores how quickly general-purpose AI is encroaching on elite intellectual tasks once thought immune to automation.
Last week, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood raised concerns about rising unemployment among new college graduates, pointing to AI’s disruptive impact on entry-level roles.
Citing Wall Street Journal data, she noted that recent grad unemployment has risen from 4% to over 6%.
Earlier, Craig Shapiro also warned that AI could disrupt 25% of all jobs by 2030 — a challenge he believes the Federal Reserve has little ability to address.
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