An artificial intelligence company has revealed an impressive feat for its coding programme, which was realised during a computer programming competition.

According to an article on BBC News, the AI system AlphaCode was among the top 54% of competitors after the contest had reached its conclusion, which involved approximately 5000 participants.

The competition involved 10 contests, which consisted of problems that AI systems needed to solve. These usually include tasks such as performing a level of strategic nous to win a board game.

“I can safely say that the results of AlphaCode exceeded my expectations,” said Mike Mirzayanov, the founder of Codeforces of whom organised this particular competition.

“I was sceptical because even in simple competitive problems it is often required not only to implement the algorithm but also – and this is the most difficult part – to invent it.”