Altman Defends AGI Timeline: OpenAI Nears Human-Level AI

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, is defending his predictions about artificial general intelligence, or AGI. He states he was accurate on the timeline for AI capabilities. However, he says society and the economy are slower to adapt to the technology than he expected. OpenAI's leadership is describing the company as close to achieving AGI. Chief research officer Mark Chen says OpenAI is 80% of the way there. President Greg Brockman suggests this period might be remembered as the moment AGI was created. Altman himself expects an internal AGI system by the end of 2026. This confidence comes from OpenAI's upcoming model family, Astra. Chief scientist Jakub Pachocki says Astra meets the company's bar for an automated AI research intern. It can implement ideas, run experiments, and process information like a human researcher. Astra also enables "persistent agents," virtual colleagues that work for long periods. Altman believes Astra will be the first model to invent things in a significant way. The bottom line: These developments could change how we interact with technology and work in the near future.