OpenAI says it reached its goal of creating an automated research intern

The company hopes to have an even better “automated AI researcher” by March 2028.

Just a day after acknowledging another incident of "misalignment," OpenAI announced that it has reached its goal of developing an "automated research intern." According to a post on its website, OpenAI says this research intern is "a system that can carry out well-defined research tasks under human direction, including tasks that would take a skilled researcher a few days." Beyond hitting its objective of creating an intern-level assistant powered by AI by September of this year, OpenAI added that it was "making strong progress toward creating an automated AI researcher by March of 2028."

"If it is done responsibly, we believe automated AI research will yield models that directly enhance human welfare and advance OpenAI's mission," the company wrote on its post.

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, first announced the goal of developing this automated research intern during an October 2025 livestream. In the Q&A video, Altman said that, "we think it is plausible that by September of next year, we have an intern-level AI research assistant and that by March 2028, we have a legitimate AI researcher." OpenAI's CEO also added that these objectives have been the "core thrust of our research program."