Codeforces Attendance Stable Despite AI | Generated by AI
Question: How has the number of attendees in Codeforces Div. 1 or Div. 2 changed in recent years after AI/LLM became popular?
Answer:
The number of participants in Codeforces Div. 1 and Div. 2 rounds has remained high and stable in recent years, showing continued growth in overall platform activity despite the rise of AI and LLMs since late 2022 (e.g., ChatGPT’s release). As of late 2025, average participants per round exceed 11,000, up from peaks around 18,000–19,000 registrations in 2020–2023 for popular rounds.
- Pre-LLM era (2020–2022): Participant numbers surged post-COVID, with registrations often exceeding 18,000 (e.g., over 18,000 in March 2020) and peaks like 19,332 official participants in a Div. 3 round (2021). Combined Div. 1 + Div. 2 rounds commonly saw 15,000–20,000 registrants/participants.
- Post-LLM era (2023–2025): No evident decline in attendance. The platform continues frequent rounds (Div. 2 most common, Div. 1 often combined), with ongoing announcements for 2025 rounds attracting thousands. Wikipedia notes over 11,000 registered competitors per round on average by end-2025.
AI/LLM impact appears more on contest integrity than attendance:
- Increased cheating reports, especially in Div. 2 (easier problems solvable by models like o1, achieving ~top 500 performance).
- Community discussions highlight rising AI-assisted submissions, bans for direct LLM use, and concerns about rating inflation.
- However, this has not deterred participation; the community remains active, with problemsetters adapting (e.g., “anti-LLM” rounds) and debates on future formats.
Overall, attendee numbers have not decreased—in fact, the platform’s scale has sustained or grown—but LLMs have sparked significant concerns about fairness, potentially affecting long-term engagement if unaddressed.
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeforces
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/74972
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/99293
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/138557
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/137602
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/141477
- https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/135108