Sam Altman expects an internal AGI system by the end of 2026
Sasha / Models and Research desk
Sam Altman put a date on the biggest claim in tech, and it leaves less than four months.
What he said
In an interview with TIME published around the GPT-6 Astra launch, the OpenAI CEO said the company is “not quite yet” at artificial general intelligence, but that he expects to have an internal system he would classify as AGI by the end of 2026. Chief research officer Mark Chen estimated OpenAI is “80% of the way” there. Co-founder Greg Brockman added that this period may be remembered as the point when AGI was created. OpenAI’s published definition of AGI: highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.
The fine print before December
The claim is about an internal system, not a product anyone can log into, and it is measured against OpenAI’s own definition, evaluated by OpenAI. From the outside that makes it unfalsifiable. It is also an unusually specific promise from a CEO who spent years refusing to give AGI a date, made in the same week his company shipped a model it markets as the start of the AGI era. Whichever way December goes, this interview will be quoted in January.
Sources
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