Will LLMs be banned at the 2026 MIT Mystery Hunt?

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2026

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The MIT Mystery Hunt is an annual puzzle hunt that takes place in January. Historically, there have been no restrictions on the use of technology for solving puzzles. Will at least some LLMs be banned from use at the 2026 MIT Mystery Hunt? If LLMs are no longer the dominant AI paradigm, I will resolve this question according to whether at least some of the successors of LLMs are banned.

Update 2025-04-23 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Partial bans clarified
- Partial or model-specific bans: If only specific LLMs (for example, those provided via paid subscriptions) are banned while others remain available, the outcome resolves as YES.
- Access distinction: Since paid subscriptions typically offer access to LLMs that free subscriptions do not, a ban affecting these constitutes a ban on at least some LLMs.
- Edge case handling: Even in the scenario where paid subscriptions do not grant access to new models (e.g., only offering lower latency or more queries), the resolution will still be YES.

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@EricNeyman How would a partial ban resolve? E.g. only one specific model is disallowed, or paid subscriptions are disallowed but free options are ok?

@JimHays as per the description, this would resolve YES (it says "will at least some LLMs be banned").

Since paid subscriptions typically give access to LLMs that free subscriptions do not, that would also resolve YES. One edge case is if, at the time if the Mystery Hunt, no paid subscription actually gives access to new models (maybe just lower latency or more queries). I plan to still resolve YES in that case.