OpenAI’s AI coder just lost to a human by a hair at AtCoder Finals
Polish programmer Przemysław Dębiak, aka Psyho, narrowly beat OpenAI’s AI entry in the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 in Tokyo earlier this month. The AI finished second, 9.5% behind Psyho’s winning score.
The 10-hour coding challenge involved solving complex optimization problems, like the classic “travelling salesman problem.” Despite AI’s speed and brute force trial, Psyho’s strategic edge clinched victory. 
Psyho used to work at OpenAI and now fears he could be the last human champ as AI coding gets faster and better.
He said:
“That’s probable.
I would prefer not, mostly because I like these competitions and knowing there’s this magical entity that can do it better than me would be a little bit frustrating.”
Psyho also admitted the irony of coders developing AI that could replace them.
“Before the contest, I tweeted ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’.
I helped developing AI and I would be the one who would be the loser of the match. Although I won, in the end, for now.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted congratulations after the contest.
Psyho pointed out AI’s main advantage: speed and scale.
“Humans are bottlenecked by how quickly they can type code.”
“The model is like cloning a single human multiple times and working in parallel. AI might not be the smartest right now but it’s definitely the fastest.”
Tech giants Microsoft and Meta are powering AI tools that write code, spurring concerns about job impacts. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted in May up to 20% of white-collar jobs could vanish to AI soon.
Psyho reflected on the broader risks:
“We have a tonne of issues.
Disinformation, social impact, humans not having a purpose in life.
Historically society moves at a very slow pace. Technological progress right now is moving at a faster and faster and faster pace.”
