Sam Altman says OpenAI will have AGI by the end of 2026 if you accept his definition

OpenAI's leadership believes AGI is within reach, according to a TIME report. The company's upcoming model Astra already works as an automated research intern, according to chief scientist Jakub Pachocki. Whether it can actually "invent new things in a way that matters," as Altman claims, is heavily debated.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is convinced his company will have an internal system he'd call artificial general intelligence (AGI) by the end of the year, even though they're "not quite yet" there. Chief Research Officer Mark Chen estimates OpenAI is "80% of the way" to AGI. Co-founder Greg Brockman believes people will look back on this period as the moment AGI emerged.

That's according to an extensive TIME report by Alex Heath, who spent more than two weeks interviewing over 20 executives, employees, investors, and rivals.

Astra is meant to work as an automated AI research intern

At the center of this AGI confidence is Astra, OpenAI's upcoming model family. This is the system OpenAI announced last year as an automated AI research intern.