OpenAI: AI agents now perform 3.1 researcher-workdays for every human researcher-workday, says it has reached “automated research intern” level, and expects “automated AI researcher” by March 2028

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Summary

OpenAI claims its AI agents now contribute 3.1 workdays for every human researcher workday, achieving an "automated research intern" level, and predicts it will reach an "automated AI researcher" by March 2028. The company says agentic systems have accelerated progress toward recursive self-improvement, effectively scaling its research workforce from roughly 1,000 to an equivalent of over 4,000.

https://openai.com/index/research-acceleration-view-inside-openai/ "As of mid-August, in total, the research organization uses 3.1 agent-workdays of effort for every workday of human labor.” “We have now reached the goal… of having an automated research intern.” “We are making strong progress toward creating an automated AI researcher by March of 2028.” “Agentic systems have contributed to our progress toward RSI in recent months.” OpenAI may have roughly 1,000 employees doing actual AI research. So if what they're saying is true, it's as if their research lab went from 1,000 researchers to 4,100 researchers overnight with the help of the automated research interns.
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