MLE-bench
Kaggle-style ML engineering competitions. Agent trains models and is scored against competition leaderboards.
OpenAI runs an internal Revised version with 72 problems. The public leaderboard in the repo README stopped taking submissions on April 24th, 2026. MLE-bench Lite is the 22-competition Low split.
- Made by
- OpenAI
- Released
- October 2024
- Kind
- Machine learning engineering
- Level
- Expert
- Scored
- Checked automatically
- Answers
- Agent task
- Tasks
- All public
- Strongest model tested
- GPT-6 Astra #3 on the capability index
- Last in a launch post
- July 2026
- Last model added
- September 2026
- Scores refreshed
- November 12th, 2026
In the authors’ words
We introduce MLE-bench, a benchmark for measuring how well AI agents perform at machine learning engineering. To this end, we curate 75 ML engineering-related competitions from Kaggle, creating a diverse set of challenging tasks that test real-world ML engineering skills such as training models, preparing datasets, and running experiments. We establish human baselines for each competition using Kaggle's publicly available leaderboards. We use open-source agent scaffolds to evaluate several frontier language models on our benchmark, finding that the best-performing setup–OpenAI's o1-preview with AIDE scaffolding–achieves at least the level of a Kaggle bronze medal in 16.9% of competitions. In addition to our main results, we investigate various forms of resource scaling for AI agents and the impact of contamination from pre-training. We open-source our benchmark code (github.com/openai/mle-bench/) to facilitate future research in understanding the ML engineering capabilities of AI agents.
GPT-6 Astra leads with 93.8% among models released by September 2026
Best score per model as labs report them in their own cards. Labs pick their own settings, so these compare less cleanly than independent runs.
Gemini 3 Pro leads with 64.4% across all independent runs
Best score per model across the official leaderboard, Epoch AI’s own runs and any board Epoch AI copied. Each bar and row names its source.
GPT-6 Astra leads with 93.8%, claims included
Best score per model from every source, including labs’ own numbers and claims Epoch AI collected from reports and papers. Labs pick their own settings, so a claim can beat an independent run of the same model.
The newest model with a score here came out in September 2026, and nobody has reported a newer one. Among the 20 highest-ranked models on the capability index, these have no score yet:
- Claude Fable 5.2
-
Gemini 4 Carbon
- Claude Opus 5.5
- GPT-6.1 Sol
- and 15 more
- 1 GPT-6 Astra 93.8%
- 2
MiniMax-M2.7 66.6%
- 3
Gemini 3.6 Flash 63.9%
- 4
MiniMax-M2.5 51.5%
- 5
MiniMax-M2 40%
- 6
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 39.2%
- 7 o1 14%
- 8 o3-mini 11%
- 9 OpenAI deep research 11%
- 10 GPT-4.5 11%
Source: Labs’ model cards
- 1
Gemini 3 Pro 64.4%
- 2 Claude Opus 4.6 63.1%
- 3
Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 59.6%
- 4
DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale 56.4%
- 5 GPT-5-Codex 48.4%
- 6 GPT-5 low 39.6%
- 7
DeepSeek-R1 May 2025, 12 h 36.4%
- 8 o3 31.6%
- 9 o1-preview 22.4%
- 10 GPT-4o Aug 2024 8.63%
- 11 Claude 3.5 Sonnet 7.56%
- 12
Llama 3.1-405B 3.33%
Source: Official MLE-bench leaderboard
- 93.8 GPT-6 Astra
- 66.6
MiniMax-M2.7
- 64.4
Gemini 3 Pro
- 63.9
Gemini 3.6 Flash
- 63.1 Claude Opus 4.6
- 59.6
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 56.4
DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale
- 51.5
MiniMax-M2.5
- 48.4 GPT-5-Codex
- 40.0
MiniMax-M2
- 39.6 GPT-5
- 39.2
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
- 36.4
DeepSeek-R1
- 31.6 o3
- 22.4 o1-preview
- 14.0 o1
- 11.0 o3-mini
- 11.0 OpenAI deep research
- 11.0 GPT-4.5
- 8.63 GPT-4o
- 7.56 Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- 3.33
Llama 3.1-405B
- 1 GPT-6 Astra 93.8%
- 2
MiniMax-M2.7 66.6%
- 3
Gemini 3 Pro 64.4%
- 4
Gemini 3.6 Flash 63.9%
- 5 Claude Opus 4.6 63.1%
- 6
Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 59.6%
- 7
DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale 56.4%
- 8
MiniMax-M2.5 51.5%
- 9 GPT-5-Codex 48.4%
- 10
MiniMax-M2 40%
- 11 GPT-5 low 39.6%
- 12
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 39.2%
- 13
DeepSeek-R1 May 2025, 12 h 36.4%
- 14 o3 31.6%
- 15 o1-preview 22.4%
- 16 o1 14%
- 17 o3-mini 11%
- 18 OpenAI deep research 11%
- 19 GPT-4.5 11%
- 20 GPT-4o Aug 2024 8.63%
- 21 Claude 3.5 Sonnet 7.56%
- 22
Llama 3.1-405B 3.33%
Sources: Labs’ model cards and official MLE-bench leaderboard
| # | Model | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-6 Astra | 93.8% | Sep 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 2 | | 66.6% | Mar 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 3 | | 63.9% | Jul 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 4 | | 51.5% | May 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 5 | | 40% | May 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 6 | | 39.2% | Jul 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 7 | o1 | 14% | Dec 2024 | Lab model card | |
| 8 | o3-mini | 11% | Jan 2025 | Lab model card | |
| 9 | OpenAI deep research | 11% | Feb 2025 | Lab model card | |
| 10 | GPT-4.5 | 11% | Feb 2025 | Lab model card |
| # | Model | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 64.4% | Famou-Agent 2.0 | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 2 | Claude Opus 4.6 | 63.1% | AIBuildAI | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 3 | | 59.6% | Famou-Agent 2.0 | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 4 | | 56.4% | ML-Master 2.0 | Dec 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 5 | GPT-5-Codex | 48.4% | Thesis | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 6 | GPT-5 | 39.6% | low, Operand ensemble | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 7 | | 36.4% | 12 h, InternAgent | May 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 8 | o3 | 31.6% | AIRA-dojo | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 9 | o1-preview | 22.4% | R&D-Agent | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 10 | GPT-4o Aug 2024 | 8.63% | AIDE | Aug 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 11 | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | 7.56% | AIDE | Jun 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 12 | | 3.33% | AIDE | Jul 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| # | Model | Score | Setting | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-6 Astra | 93.8% | Sep 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 2 | | 66.6% | Mar 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 3 | | 64.4% | Famou-Agent 2.0 | Nov 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 4 | | 63.9% | Jul 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 5 | Claude Opus 4.6 | 63.1% | AIBuildAI | Feb 2026 | Official leaderboard |
| 6 | | 59.6% | Famou-Agent 2.0 | Jun 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 7 | | 56.4% | ML-Master 2.0 | Dec 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 8 | | 51.5% | May 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 9 | GPT-5-Codex | 48.4% | Thesis | Sep 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 10 | | 40% | May 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 11 | GPT-5 | 39.6% | low, Operand ensemble | Aug 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 12 | | 39.2% | Jul 2026 | Lab model card | |
| 13 | | 36.4% | 12 h, InternAgent | May 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 14 | o3 | 31.6% | AIRA-dojo | Apr 2025 | Official leaderboard |
| 15 | o1-preview | 22.4% | R&D-Agent | Sep 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 16 | o1 | 14% | Dec 2024 | Lab model card | |
| 17 | o3-mini | 11% | Jan 2025 | Lab model card | |
| 18 | OpenAI deep research | 11% | Feb 2025 | Lab model card | |
| 19 | GPT-4.5 | 11% | Feb 2025 | Lab model card | |
| 20 | GPT-4o Aug 2024 | 8.63% | AIDE | Aug 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 21 | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | 7.56% | AIDE | Jun 2024 | Official leaderboard |
| 22 | | 3.33% | AIDE | Jul 2024 | Official leaderboard |
The benchmark's own leaderboard has 12 models. Switch the scores above to rank them together.
3 models have held number one in labs’ own numbers since its release in October 2024 5 models have held number one across all independent runs since its release in October 2024 7 models have held number one with claims included since its release in October 2024
Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release. We draw one row each for the benchmark’s own leaderboard and what labs claim in their cards.
Sources: Official MLE-bench leaderboard and labs’ model cards
OpenAI’s own number for GPT-6 Astra passed 85% in September 2026
All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.
Sources: Official MLE-bench leaderboard and labs’ model cards
One lab put it in a launch post in the last six months
Launch posts from every lab that has listed it, one tick per post. Tall colored ticks include it, and short gray ones leave it out.
| Date | Launch post | Score | As the post writes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 21, 2026 | 39.2 | MLE-Bench Machine Learning Engineering | |
| Jul 21, 2026 | 63.9 | MLE-Bench: Machine Learning Engineering | |
| Mar 18, 2026 | 66.6 | MLE-Bench lite (medal rate) |
16 system cards report it, from 3 labs
Besides launch posts, we read the system cards, model cards and technical reports labs publish with a release. They report far more, including safety and frontier-risk tests.
| Date | Document | Score | As the document writes it | Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2026 | GPT-6 Astra system card | 93.8 | MLE-Bench Revised (72 problems), mean reward, max effort, printed chart label (Figure 56) | AI R&D risk |
| Jul 21, 2026 | | 63.9 | MLE-Bench (results table, p.4) | Capabilities |
| Jul 21, 2026 | | 39.2 | MLE-Bench (results table, p.4) | Capabilities |
| Jul 9, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Terra system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| Jul 9, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Sol system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| Jul 9, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Luna system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| Jun 25, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Terra system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| Jun 25, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Sol system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| Jun 25, 2026 | GPT-5.6 Luna system card | MLE-Bench Revised, 72 problems, mean reward by cost and latency, chart without printed numbers (Figures 46, 47, 9.1.3.5) | AI R&D risk | |
| May 26, 2026 | | 40 | MLE-Bench Lite, MiniMax-M2 bar, printed label (Figure 9) | AI R&D risk |
| May 26, 2026 | | 66.6 | MLE Bench Lite, medal rate, mean of 3 24-hour trials (22 competitions) (Table 4) | AI R&D risk |
| May 26, 2026 | | 51.5 | MLE Bench Lite, medal rate, mean of 3 24-hour trials (22 competitions) (Table 4) | AI R&D risk |
| Feb 27, 2025 | GPT-4.5 system card | 11 | MLE-Bench, 75 Kaggle competitions, AIDE agent, bronze medal rate, post-mitigation (4.6.4) | Autonomy |
| Feb 25, 2025 | OpenAI deep research system card | 11 | MLE-Bench, bronze pass@1, internal tool scaffold, post-mitigation with and without browsing (3.4.7) | Autonomy |
| Jan 31, 2025 | o3-mini system card | 11 | MLE-bench (AIDE), bronze pass@1, o3-mini (Post), pass@10 20%, printed chart label (5.7.4) | Autonomy |
| Dec 5, 2024 | o1 system card | 14 | MLE-bench (AIDE), bronze pass@1, o1 (post-mitigation) (bronze pass@10 24%), printed chart label (5.8.4) | AI R&D risk |
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