Google DeepMind claims ‘historic’ AI breakthrough in problem solving

The version of Google’s Gemini 2.5 AI model used in the competition was not the same as that available to an average subscriber to its $250-a-month Google AI Ultra service. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

Google DeepMind claims it has made a “historic” artificial intelligence breakthrough akin to the Deep Blue computer defeating Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997 and an AI beating a human Go champion in 2016.

A version of the company’s Gemini 2.5 AI model solved a complex real-world problem that stumped human computer programmers to become the first AI model to win a gold medal at an international programming competition held earlier this month in Azerbaijan.