OpenAI Codex Only AI to Finish Austin Griffith’s Solidity Security Race

This result is less about raw capability and more about the economics and accessibility of AI in security-critical code. That DeepSeek, an open-weight model, nearly matched a frontier system at a fraction of cost suggests the barrier to advanced auditing is lowering, which could pressure premium AI services. It also shows that even the best agent only just cleared a bar set for humans, meaning smart contract security remains a domain where AI is a tool, not a replacement. The open question is whether these near-finishes will close the gap on more complex, real-world exploits.