Generalization of AlphaEvolve to broader scientific domains

Determine whether the AlphaEvolve coding agent for algorithmic discovery generalizes beyond its demonstrated settings to broader scientific domains including chemistry, biology, and materials, by assessing its ability to produce valid, implementable algorithmic improvements under domain-specific evaluation protocols and constraints.

Background

AlphaEvolve is a coding agent that uses ensembles of LLMs to generate programmatic hypotheses and achieved notable results in tasks like 4×4 matrix multiplication. However, its design relies predominantly on internal LLM knowledge without external grounding, which may limit its applicability in domains with vast, unbounded search spaces.

In the paper’s early analysis, pure algorithm evolution is shown to yield limited improvements on complex tasks (e.g., molecular property prediction), motivating the integration of deep research as a complementary mechanism. This context underscores the uncertainty regarding AlphaEvolve’s ability to generalize effectively across heterogeneous scientific areas such as chemistry, biology, and materials.