Selke: OpenAI's Astra improved bounds further simply when prompted again
Mark Selke · Inside OpenAI’s Breakthroughs in Mathematical Reasoning · Sep 8, 2026 · at 36:57
OpenAI researcher Mark Selke describes how Astra initially stopped improving mathematical bounds on spherical codes until researchers prompted it to push further.
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“In, in this case, what the model was asked to do originally for codes was to improve the bounds by, like, some exponential factor, so it really, like, shows up in this, like, leading constant up here. And, you know, it improved the bounds, and it didn't try to push things too much further. Like, sometimes you see a do, but sometimes it just doesn't bother. But yeah, you know, you just ask it again, and it goes further. So, it wasn't like a capabilities issue, it just kind of didn't feel like it at the time.”
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