The AI startup co-founded by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev built a model that solved five of six IMO problems with formally verified proofs, a milestone for mathematical AI.
Here’s something you don’t see every day: an AI model that can not only solve elite math competition problems but actually prove it did the work correctly. Harmonic, the AI startup co-founded by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Tudor Achim, announced on July 28 that its reasoning model Aristotle achieved gold medal-level performance on the 2025 International Mathematical Olympiad.
The model generated formally verified proofs for five out of six IMO problems using the Lean theorem prover. For the uninitiated, that’s not just getting the right answer on a test. It’s showing every single step of your reasoning in a language that a computer can independently check for errors.
Why verified proofs matter more than raw answers #
Harmonic’s approach integrates informal reasoning with formal verification through Lean, a theorem-proving language used by professional mathematicians. The Lean prover doesn’t care how smart the reasoning sounds. It either checks out logically or it doesn’t.
Aristotle’s capabilities extend beyond competition math. The model solved a variant of Erdős Problem #124, with verification taking roughly one minute.
The product play and what Harmonic is building #
Alongside the IMO announcement, Harmonic launched a beta chatbot app for iOS and Android that gives users direct access to the Aristotle model.
Harmonic has been explicit about differentiating its approach from previous IMO AI entries, which the company characterizes as using more lenient solution standards.
It’s worth being precise about one thing: despite Tenev’s involvement, there is no direct connection between Aristotle or Harmonic and Robinhood’s operations, including its cryptocurrency business. Tenev co-founded Harmonic as a separate venture.
What this means for investors and the AI landscape #
For crypto-adjacent investors specifically, the Tenev connection has already stirred speculation. Discussions in crypto communities have surfaced around meme tokens loosely associated with the news. Investors should treat any token projects riding the Aristotle headline with heavy skepticism. There is no blockchain component to Harmonic’s work, and no evidence of any planned integration with Robinhood’s digital asset offerings. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our