Direct discovery · Mathematics · Computer science

FunSearch uses language models and program search for mathematical discovery

New constructions for the cap set problem and new algorithms for studied online bin-packing distributions.

Summary

FunSearch combined a frozen language model, a scoring evaluator, and evolutionary search over programs. The paper reports new mathematical and algorithmic outputs in settings where candidate programs can be executed and compared.

AI role

Generated programs that were scored by an evaluator and improved through evolutionary search.

Narrative role

This is a useful precursor milestone for AI discovery because it demonstrates a verifiable loop: generate, execute, score, and iterate.

Caveat

The approach fits domains with executable evaluators; it is not general proof of autonomous scientific discovery.