OpenAI shifts from fully autonomous AI research by March 2028 to human-AI collaboration, calls for international body to slow frontier development if needed

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and chief researcher Jakub Pachocki published a blog post backing away from the company's prior goal of building a fully autonomous AI system capable of conducting research by March 2028. Instead, they now describe the internal belief as: 'by March of 2028 we may have a significant fraction of our research being done by AI systems in tandem with our own researchers.'

Altman and Pachocki argue that 'entirely automating everything is not the future we want' and position a human role in setting direction, making tradeoffs, and applying judgment. They propose an international organization to coordinate leading AI efforts and 'enable coordinated action, including slowing frontier development when needed, so societal resilience, safety, and alignment can keep pace.'

OpenAI outlines three core goals: 'Build an automated AI researcher,' 'Accelerate the economy,' and 'Give everyone on Earth a personal AGI.' The company describes the current moment as the start of its third phase, focused on making advanced AI 'abundant, affordable, safe, useful, and easy enough' for every person and organization to benefit.