- OpenAI aims to launch AI “research interns” in 2026
- By 2028, Sam Altman says the goal is to have a fully autonomous AI researcher
- This shift towards “personal AGI” could transform AI from a chat tool into a true collaborator
Sam Altman says that by next year, OpenAI expects its models to function as AI “research interns” and that by 2028 they could function as fully independent researchers.
It’s a bold timeline, one that hints at what Altman calls a more “personal” AGI future, where AI doesn’t just answer questions but actually helps you think.
These comments surfaced during a recent live appearance in response to “When will AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) take place?” to which Altman responded: “I would say the term AGI has become extremely overloaded and it will be this multi-year process. Our goal is by March 2028 to have a true automated AI researcher and define what that means rather than satisfying everyone with a definition of AGI.
It’s clear that OpenAI wants its AI capabilities to go beyond ChatGPT and become a tool that can truly improve workflows around the world, but that seems easier said than done.
When will the AGI take place? Sam Altman: We are in the middle of the process. It is not a single point, but a transition. “Our goal is to have an automated AI researcher by March 2028.” It’s about getting closer, surpassing humans on several axes. pic.twitter.com/czzUQW9TOdOctober 28, 2025
What does an “AI research intern” look like?
If Altman’s claim that OpenAI will provide the entire population with an AI research intern in 2026 is correct, what exactly will that mean?
Well, think of it as ChatGPT with added features to help you accomplish your tasks. You could ask this future ChatGPT to read an article, compare it with other work, and highlight what is new or needs improvement. Maybe it could even help you understand a technical concept and suggest next steps?
Today’s chatbots can do some of this, but only when you give them a structure to follow. Altman seems to imagine a version of AI that would begin to make useful decisions on its own.
An AI research intern seems like the logical next step for ChatGPT, but truly trustworthy AI requires a way to completely remove hallucinations from the AI, so you can fully trust the answers you’re given. Otherwise, you will have to keep checking the AI intern’s work, which would completely defeat the purpose of the tool.
Until AI is 100% accurate, no “AI research intern” will ever be useful enough to actually help you do your job.
2028 and beyond
Altman’s goal for 2028 is much more ambitious. Instead of helping a human researcher, he’s talking about an AI that can act like one, which means designing and testing ideas independently, then presenting the results to a human. He seems more like a colleague than a chatbot.
If that sounds worrying, then I totally feel the same way. Altman’s vision of an “AI researcher” could be the AI we’ve feared all along, and while it won’t be a complete AGI as such, it would nonetheless completely overhaul the workforce.
That said, it makes sense that this is where AI could head. AI is good at sifting through huge amounts of information, so letting it conduct small experiments is a natural step in improving its capabilities.
OpenAI has already taken aggressive steps, but going from today’s chatbots to real search agents is a steep climb. There are security concerns, accuracy concerns, and the ever-present question of who controls these systems.
Even though OpenAI is confident in its timeline, the quality bar matters more than the timeline. An AI that confidently gives false answers is worse than useless. You need something that can show how it works, cite sources, and admit when it doesn’t know.
If Altman’s predictions are correct, it’s not necessarily important when we finally reach the AGI. Essentially, OpenAI and its competitors are already working to turn AI from a tool that responds to us into a tool that works alongside us.
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