OpenAI just hit a milestone on the road to self-improving AI

OpenAI has announced that it has reached a goal set last fall of having an automated research intern by September 2026. The milestone means a system can carry out well-defined research tasks under human direction, including work that would take a skilled researcher several days. The company is also working toward creating an automated AI researcher by March 2028.

All categories of research activity have increased since the start of the year (Source: OpenAI)

“Transparency about specific risks, incidents and safeguards is necessary, but not sufficient. We believe the public also needs to understand how the most capable systems are developing, and how they are driving research progress, inside of frontier labs,” OpenAI said.

OpenAI pushes toward automated AI research

Researchers are using coding agents to write code, run experiments and handle more complex tasks, often running several agents at once. The company says this is helping speed up research, while humans continue to set priorities, assess results and decide whether systems are developed or deployed.

The company sees automated research as a way to develop more capable and affordable AI, along with tools for AI safety and security. Its work includes progress toward recursive self-improvement (RSI), in which AI helps develop more capable AI systems that can contribute to further advances.