In a groundbreaking competition, Polish programmer Przemysław Dębiak (aka “Psyho”) has defeated an advanced AI model from OpenAI in the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 Heuristic contest in Tokyo. The 10-hour marathon left him exhausted but triumphant.
AtCoder, a Japanese platform hosting competitive programming contests, held its first-ever contest where an AI model competed directly against top human programmers in a major onsite world championship. The event featured an exhibition match titled “Humans vs AI,” with OpenAI’s maker participating as a sponsor and entering an AI model for the competition.
Dębiak, who had little sleep while competing across three days, solved a complex optimization problem over 600 minutes to emerge victorious. His win echoes the classic American folk tale of John Henry, a steel-driving man who competed against a steam-powered drilling machine in the 1870s.
Both stories feature exhausting endurance contests, where human skill was pushed to its limits. Dębiak’s victory represents humanity’s ability to overcome physical exhaustion and prove that human expertise still matters in an age of advancing AI. His acknowledgement that “humanity prevailed (for now!)” suggests he recognizes this may be a temporary triumph against increasingly capable machines.
The outcome marks a significant milestone, as it highlights the ongoing debate between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. While OpenAI’s maker walked away with second place, Dębiak’s historic win demonstrates the potential for humans to outperform AI in specific areas of coding.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/exhausted-man-defeats-ai-model-in-world-coding-championship