# OpenAI’s IMO Team on Why Models Are Finally Solving Elite-Level Math

An episode of [Training Data](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1750736528), 30 Jul 2025, 30 min.

Audio: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/CPUAI5438545942.mp3?updated=1753741141

In just two months, a scrappy three-person team at OpenAI sprinted to fulfill what the entire AI field has been chasing for years—gold-level performance on the International Mathematical Olympiad problems. Alex Wei, Sheryl Hsu and Noam Brown discuss their unique approach using general-purpose reinforcement learning techniques on hard-to-verify tasks rather than formal verification tools. The model showed surprising self-awareness by admitting it couldn’t solve problem six, and revealed the humbling gap between solving competition problems and genuine mathematical research breakthroughs. Hosted by Sonya Huang, Sequoia Capital

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