AI Discovery in Combinatorics: From Problems to Solutions and Back

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.

Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Submitted on 12 Oct 2026 Title:AI Discovery in Combinatorics: From Problems to Solutions and Back to Bigger Problems View PDF https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.16555 Abstract: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. Additional Features Current browse context: cs.AI References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer What is the Explorer? https://info.arxiv.org/labs/showcase.html arxiv-bibliographic-explorer Connected Papers What is Connected Papers? https://www.connectedpapers.com/about Litmaps What is Litmaps? https://www.litmaps.co/ scite Smart Citations What are Smart Citations? https://www.scite.ai/ Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv What is alphaXiv? https://alphaxiv.org/ CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers What is CatalyzeX? https://www.catalyzex.com DagsHub What is DagsHub? https://dagshub.com/ Gotit.pub What is GotitPub? http://gotit.pub/faq Hugging Face What is Huggingface? https://huggingface.co/huggingface ScienceCast What is ScienceCast? https://sciencecast.org/welcome Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower What are Influence Flowers? https://influencemap.cmlab.dev/ CORE Recommender What is CORE? https://core.ac.uk/services/recommender arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both 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. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs https://info.arxiv.org/labs/index.html .