{"slug": "ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back", "title": "AI Discovery in Combinatorics: From Problems to Solutions and Back", "summary": "A paper submitted to arXiv on 12 October 2026 introduces qtBench, a benchmark of 29 open problems in algebraic combinatorics that ask for simple combinatorial algorithms explaining given polynomial coefficients or identities. The authors built a scaffold for AI agents to search for such algorithms, counter cheating attempts and test candidate solutions, and collaborated with OpenAI, whose researchers obtained proposed solutions to several of the problems. The paper uses those results to raise meta-questions about whether AI discovery at scale is ethical, how results should be released and how proof digestion should be organized.", "body_md": "# Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence\n\n  [Submitted on 12 Oct 2026]\n\n# Title:AI Discovery in Combinatorics: From Problems to Solutions and Back to Bigger Problems\n\n[View PDF](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.16555)\n\nAbstract:We introduce $qt$Bench, a benchmark of 29 open problems in algebraic combinatorics. These problems ask for a simple combinatorial algorithm that explains given polynomial coefficients or identities. To help AI agents search for such algorithms, we provide a scaffold for playing with combinatorial objects, countering cheating attempts, and testing candidate solutions. To explore how far frontier AI systems can go on these problems, we collaborated with OpenAI, whose researchers obtained proposed solutions to several of them. This highlights bigger meta-problems: is AI discovery at scale ethical? How should these results be released? How should proof digestion be organized? We discuss these questions and give our views.\n    \n\n### Additional Features\n\n### Current browse context:\n\ncs.AI\n\n### References & Citations\n\nLoading...\n\n# Bibliographic and Citation Tools\n\nBibliographic Explorer \n\n*(*[What is the Explorer?](https://info.arxiv.org/labs/showcase.html#arxiv-bibliographic-explorer))\nConnected Papers \n\n*(*[What is Connected Papers?](https://www.connectedpapers.com/about))\nLitmaps \n\n*(*[What is Litmaps?](https://www.litmaps.co/))\nscite Smart Citations \n\n*(*[What are Smart Citations?](https://www.scite.ai/))\n# Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article\n\nalphaXiv \n\n*(*[What is alphaXiv?](https://alphaxiv.org/))\nCatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers \n\n*(*[What is CatalyzeX?](https://www.catalyzex.com))\nDagsHub \n\n*(*[What is DagsHub?](https://dagshub.com/))\nGotit.pub \n\n*(*[What is GotitPub?](http://gotit.pub/faq))\nHugging Face \n\n*(*[What is Huggingface?](https://huggingface.co/huggingface))\nScienceCast \n\n*(*[What is ScienceCast?](https://sciencecast.org/welcome))\n# Demos\n\n# Recommenders and Search Tools\n\nInfluence Flower \n\n*(*[What are Influence Flowers?](https://influencemap.cmlab.dev/))\nCORE Recommender \n\n*(*[What is CORE?](https://core.ac.uk/services/recommender))\n# arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators\n\narXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.\n\nBoth individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.\n\nHave an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? [**Learn more about arXivLabs**](https://info.arxiv.org/labs/index.html).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back", "canonical_source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16555", "published_at": "2026-10-19 21:33:28+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-19 21:46:17.287413+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-agents", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["arXiv", "OpenAI", "qtBench"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-discovery-in-combinatorics-from-problems-to-solutions-and-back.jsonld"}}