OpenAI says it reached its goal of creating an automated research intern

Just a day after acknowledging another incident of "misalignment," OpenAI announced that it has reached its goal of developing an "automated research intern." According to a post on its website, OpenAI says this research intern is "a system that can carry out well-defined research tasks under human direction, including tasks that would take a skilled researcher a few days." Beyond hitting its objective of creating an intern-level assistant powered by AI by September of this year, OpenAI added that it was "making strong progress toward creating an automated AI researcher by March of 2028." "If it is done responsibly, we believe automated AI research will yield models that directly enhance human welfare and advance OpenAI's mission," the company wrote on its post. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, first announced the goal of developing this automated research intern during an October 2025 livestream.