InternLM2.5-StepProver scales expert iteration over large Lean problem sets

The system performs expert iteration over large Lean datasets and uses a critic to prioritize easier problems and guide deeper proof searches.

What happened?

InternLM2.5-StepProver reported 65.9% on miniF2F-test and proved or disproved 17.0% of Lean-Workbook-Plus problems.

Why it matters

It provided an open empirical example of theorem-proving performance scaling with data, search and compute.

Significance rationale: StepProver showed how large problem banks and compute-intensive expert iteration can steadily raise open formal theorem-proving performance.

Historical context

Primary evidence

Evidence & status at a glance

Significance
H2 · Field milestone
Verification
Paper released
Evidence level
E3 · Inspectable artifact
AI role
AI primary, human verified
Formal assurance
Machine-checked

How should these labels be read? →

Contribution & verification

Mathematical novelty
Benchmark result
Interface
Formal, Symbolic
AI contribution
The prover searches for Lean proofs, trains on successful outputs and uses a learned critic to allocate effort.
Human contribution
Researchers built the large-scale expert-iteration pipeline and curated Lean datasets.
Verification
Paper released · E3 · Inspectable artifact · Machine-checked
Last reviewed
2026-09-11

Technical details

Systems
internlm2.5-stepprover, lean
Organizations
shanghai-ai-laboratory
Problems
minif2f, lean-workbook-plus, putnambench
Methods
expert-iteration, critic-model, proof-search

Sources & artifacts

Verification history

  • 2024-10-21 · Paper released · E2 · Research record

    The Chronicle records this event from the cited primary or official source; the status does not imply independent Chronicle verification.

  • 2026-09-11 · Paper released · E3 · Inspectable artifact

    This corpus refresh added a directly inspectable public artifact maintained by the authors or releasing organization. E3 records artifact-level inspectability and does not imply independent verification of the underlying scientific or mathematical claim.

Corrections

No corrections recorded.