Theori Wins $1.5 Million at DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge

Aug 12, 2025
Theori secured third place and a $1.5 million prize at DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge, held at DEF CON 33, with their AI system 'Robo Duck' autonomously identifying 34 vulnerabilities.
Theori Wins $1.5 Million at DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge

Theori has won a $1.5 million prize at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) AI Cyber Challenge, as announced in a press release. The competition took place at DEF CON 33 in Las Vegas, a major cybersecurity conference.

The AI Cyber Challenge, led by DARPA and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), tasked participants with developing AI systems capable of autonomously identifying and repairing security flaws in critical open-source software. Theori's AI system, named "Robo Duck," was among seven elite finalists and successfully identified 34 vulnerabilities, including zero-day vulnerabilities, without human intervention.

This achievement follows Theori's first-place victory in the 2024 semifinals, where they won a $2 million prize. Additionally, Theori also triumphed in the DEF CON Capture the Flag competition for the ninth time and received the Best Privilege Escalation award at the 2025 Pwnie Awards for discovering a critical Linux kernel vulnerability.

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