Google's Shocking New AI Won a Medal In Math Olympics - Alpha Proof
Google Deep Minds AI recently Made headlines by competing in the prestigious international mathematical Olympiad.
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00:00Last week, something big happened at Google DeepMind's headquarters in London.
00:07They've got this ceremonial gong that they only ring for major breakthroughs, and this
00:11time it rang out for something truly unexpected.
00:14Back in 2016, they hit the gong for AlphaGo, an AI system that dominated the ancient game
00:19of Go, even defeating the best human players in the world.
00:23Then, in 2017, they rang it again when AlphaZero, another AI, conquered the chess world, taking
00:30down human world champions.
00:31Fast forward to just last week, and they brought out the gong once more to celebrate their
00:36latest achievement.
00:38Their AI just competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad, a competition usually
00:44reserved for the brightest young math whizzes from around the world.
00:48And get this, the AI performed so well, it could have walked away with a silver medal
00:51if it were human.
00:53This isn't just a win for AI, it's a sign that computers are getting seriously good
00:57at tackling problems that have always been a human stronghold.
01:01So here's the deal.
01:02Last week, DeepMind's AI took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad IMO, which
01:08is basically the Olympics for the world's brightest young mathematicians.
01:11This year, the event was held from July 11th to July 22nd at the University of Bath, about
01:17100 miles west of London.
01:18It's a huge deal in the math world, drawing 609 high school students from 108 countries,
01:25all competing to solve some of the most challenging math problems out there.
01:29The competition is fierce, with students vying for gold, silver, and bronze medals.
01:34But here's where things get really interesting.
01:36For the first time ever, an AI system not only competed alongside these human math prodigies,
01:41but also performed well enough to earn a medal.
01:44Yeah, you heard that right.
01:45An AI system at the level of a silver medalist.
01:49It managed to solve four out of the six problems presented, earning a total of 28 points.
01:54While it didn't reach the top spot, it's still a groundbreaking achievement that has
01:58everyone talking.
01:59Dr. Pushmeet Kohli, one of the leads at Google DeepMind, described this accomplishment as
02:04a massive breakthrough in AI's ability to engage in mathematical reasoning.
02:08He went so far as to call it a phase transition, which is a fancy way of saying that this marks
02:12a transformative moment in how AI can be used in mathematics.
02:16It's not just about this one competition.
02:18It's about the broader implications for the future of AI and math.
02:22To make sure the AI's performance was judged fairly, DeepMind brought in two independent
02:27experts to assess its work.
02:28These weren't just any experts.
02:30They were Timothy Gowers, a mathematician at the University of Cambridge who's won the
02:34Fields Medal, which is like the Nobel Prize for mathematics.
02:38And Joseph Myers, a software developer who also happens to be a past IMO gold medalist.
02:43Myers has also served as the chair of the Problem Selection Committee for the IMO, so
02:47he knows his stuff.
02:49Both of these guys took a close look at the AI's solutions, and they were impressed.
02:54Gowers even said that while his expectations were high going into this, the AI exceeded
03:00them in some areas.
03:01So let's talk about how the competition went down.
03:05The human competitors, these super smart high school students, had to sit for two exams
03:09over two days.
03:11Each exam had three problems, covering topics like algebra, geometry, combinatorics, and
03:16number theory.
03:17They had just 4.5 hours per exam to solve these incredibly tough problems.
03:22Meanwhile, the AI was working away back at the DeepMind lab in London with no time constraints.
03:27The researchers were watching closely, and every time the AI managed to solve a problem,
03:32they banged the gong in celebration.
03:34Now to give you an idea of how tough these problems are, consider this.
03:38Only one student, Haojie Xue from China, managed to get a perfect score of 42 points
03:43by solving all six problems.
03:44The US team won the overall competition with a total of 192 points, followed closely by
03:50China with 190 points.
03:52And remember, the AI earned 28 points by fully solving four problems, two in algebra, one
03:57in geometry, and one in number theory.
03:59However, it struggled with the two combinatorics problems.
04:02But still, this performance was strong enough to earn a silver medal if it had been a human
04:06competitor.
04:07DeepMind's researchers are particularly excited about this achievement because it represents
04:12a significant step forward in AI's ability to tackle complex mathematical problems.
04:16For them, it's not just about how fast the AI can solve these problems, but about the
04:21fact that it can solve them at all.
04:23Dr. David Silver, another research scientist at DeepMind, pointed out that this marks a
04:27step change in the history of mathematics.
04:31That's the point where we move from computers only being able to solve very simple problems
04:35to computers being able to tackle problems that are on par with those solved by human
04:39experts.
04:40And in the future, they might even go beyond that.
04:44DeepMind's work on applying AI to mathematics has been in the works for several years.
04:48They've been collaborating with world-class research mathematicians to push the boundaries
04:52of what AI can do.
04:54Dr. Alex Davies, who leads DeepMind's mathematics initiative, explained that mathematics requires
04:59a unique combination of abstract thinking, precise calculations, and creative reasoning.
05:05This makes it a perfect test for AI systems, especially for those aiming to achieve what's
05:10known as Artificial General Intelligence, AGI.
05:13AGI is the ultimate goal in AI research where a system can perform a wide range of tasks
05:18at or above human level.
05:20Math Olympiad problems have become a kind of benchmark for testing AI's capabilities.
05:24Back in January, DeepMind introduced a system called Alpha Geometry, which was able to solve
05:29Olympiad-level geometry problems at nearly the level of a human gold medalist.
05:34Fast forward a few months, and Alpha Geometry 2 has now surpassed even the gold medalists
05:39in solving these types of problems, according to Thang Luong, the principal investigator.
05:43Riding on this success, DeepMind decided to take things up a notch for this year's IMO
05:48by bringing in a multidisciplinary team to tackle a broader range of mathematical subjects.
05:53For this Olympiad, DeepMind actually had two teams working in parallel.
05:57One team was led by Thomas Hubert, a research engineer in London, while the other was led
06:01by Thang Luong and Kwok Le in Mountain View, California.
06:05These teams were stacked with talent, including a dozen IMO medalists.
06:09Dr. Luong even joked that this was by far the highest concentration of IMO medalists
06:14at Google.
06:15The AI that competed this year was a combination of Alpha Geometry and a new system called
06:19AlphaProof, designed to handle a wide range of mathematical problems.
06:24AlphaProof is particularly interesting because it incorporates a variety of AI technologies.
06:29One approach they used is called an informal reasoning system, which is based on natural
06:33language.
06:34This system leverages Google's large language model, Gemini, to understand and solve problems.
06:41It's good at recognizing patterns and suggesting the next steps.
06:45And while large language models are known for sometimes making stuff up, in this case,
06:49the AI was able to stay focused and avoid too much creative wandering.
06:53Another key approach they used is a formal reasoning system, which is all about strict
06:58logic and code.
06:59This system uses a tool called Lean, which is a type of theorem prover and proof assistant.
07:03It ensures that every step the AI takes in solving a problem is logically sound and can
07:07be verified as correct.
07:09This is crucial in mathematics, where precision is everything.
07:12And then there's also a reinforcement learning algorithm, which is a type of AI that learns
07:17by itself.
07:18This algorithm is based on the same technology that powered AlphaGo and AlphaZero.
07:22It's designed to keep learning and improving over time without needing a human teacher
07:26to guide it.
07:27Dr. Silver, who's in charge of reinforcement learning at DeepMind, explained that this
07:31kind of algorithm can scale indefinitely, meaning it can continue learning and solving
07:37increasingly complex problems.
07:39The idea is that eventually this AI could solve problems that are too difficult for
07:45even the best human mathematicians.
07:47And who knows, maybe one day it'll be able to tackle problems that humans haven't even
07:51thought of yet.
07:52But it's not all about AI taking over.
07:55The hope is that these AI systems will become valuable tools for mathematicians, helping
07:59them solve problems faster and more efficiently.
08:02Dr. Timothy Gowers, the field's medalist, isn't too worried about AI replacing human
08:07mathematicians anytime soon.
08:09He pointed out that there's still a long way to go before AI can handle the kind of high-level
08:14research that human mathematicians are doing.
08:17But he also thinks that if AI can solve tough problems like those at the IMO, then it won't
08:22be long before we start seeing AI tools that could be really useful in math research.
08:27If this technology keeps advancing, it could make math more accessible to everyone, speed
08:32up discoveries, and even help mathematicians think outside the box.
08:36So yeah, that's why they banged the gong at Google DeepMind's headquarters.
08:41They're not just celebrating a victory.
08:42They're celebrating a new era in mathematics, where AI isn't just a tool but a real collaborator
08:47and maybe, just maybe, a game-changer for the entire field.
08:52Alright, I hope you enjoyed the video.
08:54If you did, please make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel for more AI and
08:59tech news.
09:00Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.