OpenAI has set an internal deadline to create a “legitimate AI researcher” by 2028, with an interim goal of developing an intern-level research assistant by September 2026, CEO Sam Altman said Tuesday.
The announcement coincided with OpenAI finalising its transition to a public benefit corporation, reports TechCrunch. This new structure frees the company from its former non-profit charter’s limitations and allows it to raise new capital more easily.
Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki, speaking with Altman on a livestream, defined the 2028 goal as a “system capable of autonomously delivering on larger research projects”.
Pachocki also projected that superintelligence — which he described as systems smarter than humans across many critical actions — is potentially less than a decade away. “We believe that it is possible that deep learning systems are less than a decade away from superintelligence,” Pachocki said.
Algorithmic breakthroughs required
Achieving this ambitious timeline depends on algorithmic breakthroughs and “dramatically scaling up ‘test time compute’,” or the time models spend “thinking.” Pachocki suggested that for major scientific discoveries, “it would be worth dedicating entire data centres’ worth of computing power to a single problem.”
Altman explained that the new corporate structure is designed to support this timeline and its associated costs. A non-profit OpenAI Foundation will own 26 per cent of the for-profit entity, govern the research direction, and manage safety initiatives. The foundation also holds a $25 billion commitment to apply AI to curing diseases.
The ability to raise more funds is critical given the immense infrastructure costs. Altman stated that OpenAI has committed to a 30-gigawatt infrastructure plan over the next few years, calling it “a $1.4 trillion financial obligation”.
