AlphaDev, an artificial intelligence (AI) system, has used reinforcement learning to develop enhanced computer science algorithms, supplanting those that have been refined by scientists and engineers over decades. Sorting algorithms are fundamental to online search results, data processing, and a variety of other applications. The new sorting algorithms discovered by AlphaDev could transform how computers are programmed and have far-reaching impacts on all aspects of our increasingly digital society. The AI system, based on AlphaZero, demonstrates its ability to transfer from games to scientific challenges and from simulations to real-world applications. AlphaDev was trained to find new algorithms by playing an 'assembly game,' in which the system generated new algorithms and had to search through an enormous number of possible combinations of instructions to find an algorithm that can sort faster than the current best one. In addition to discovering faster algorithms, AlphaDev also uncovered novel approaches, such as the 'AlphaDev swap and copy moves,' which can save a single instruction each time they are applied, leading to significant efficiency gains. After its success in improving sorting algorithms, AlphaDev was also applied to hashing, another fundamental algorithm in computing used to retrieve, store, and compress data. The AI system discovered a new hashing algorithm that was 30% faster within the 9-16 bytes range, which has now been released into the open-source Abseil library and is estimated to be used trillions of times a day. This innovation represents a crucial step towards developing general-purpose AI tools that could optimize the entire computing ecosystem, offering significant benefits to society.