Ethereum launches AI challenge targeting koalaIRS12’s 128-bit bound

At better.codes, a solver signs in with GitHub, clones the challenge repository and works on koalaIRS12, a Reed–Solomon proximity problem. The new Ethereum Foundation challenge asks the solver’s own AI agents to raise its machine-checked soundness bound toward 128 bits.

The problem sits beneath hash-based SNARKs — succinct non-interactive proof systems — used in systems securing zkrollups and zero-knowledge virtual machines, as well as in Ethereum’s post-quantum roadmap. These systems rely on proximity gaps and correlated agreement for Reed–Solomon codes. The foundation says deployed systems target 128-bit security, while the full guarantee still depends on conjectures that researchers are working to prove or disprove.

The mechanism is deliberately strict. The theorem statement, parameter point and verification harness are pinned; a comparator checks that the exported theorem matches exactly, then the Lean kernel — the formal proof checker — validates the proof. A promoted result is credited to its solver and the AI model used, and its lemmas, techniques or impossibility results are added to the public repository so later participants can build on them rather than repeat the same dead ends.

And concretely? The immediate users are researchers and developers with an AI setup capable of formal mathematics, not people installing a new product. They get a shared benchmark, a public score in bits and a trail of machine-checked work. The intended benefit is cumulative evidence for the security assumptions behind existing proof systems, but the launch covers only koalaIRS12 and does not say that the 128-bit target has been reached.

The challenge is part of the Ethereum Foundation’s Proximity Prize initiative, developed with Yukon and zkSecurity. The foundation says similar open autoresearch challenges have already advanced work in quantum circuit design, verified zero-knowledge circuits and post-quantum proving speed. Eligibility, evaluation, awards and payments are governed by program terms that may change as the challenge progresses.