---
format: "aidr-story-markdown/v1"
id: "925fd2fbf6741ab4d1fb9eb02c2fbbaa16a58a23dbd701d825c8b6754af525d3"
canonical_url: "https://aidr.today/925fd2fb?lang=en"
title: "OpenAI Says It Hit Automated Research Intern Goal and Targets Autonomous AI Researcher in 18 Months"
lang: "en"
requested_lang: "en"
available_langs: ["en","vi"]
translation_fallback: null
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published_at: "2026-09-06T16:42:13.000Z"
category: "Research"
topics: ["openai","agent","research","automation","infra","benchmark"]
source_urls: ["https://huggingnews.com/ai/update-openai-says-it-hit-automated-research-intern-goal-and-targets-aut-eed553ff","https://x.com/SebastienBubeck/status/2096623766185107790","https://x.com/AndrewCurran_/status/2096629434732388687","https://x.com/btibor91/status/2096617185699401961","https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096625029551181876","https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096620189794042036","https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096620809879957538","https://x.com/peterwildeford/status/2096959672859140112"]
summary: "OpenAI's new internal data release showed a P50 time horizon of 4.7 hours as of July 2026, median daily spending on coding agents of $601.25 per researcher as of Aug. 15, and more than $7,000 at the 90th percentile. OpenAI said it has met its goal of an automated research intern and is making strong progress toward an automated AI researcher by March 2028. The material was presented as data on models accelerating research at OpenAI. A separate update on the release said a fully autonomous AI researcher is 18 months away."
---

# OpenAI Says It Hit Automated Research Intern Goal and Targets Autonomous AI Researcher in 18 Months

> [Open the canonical story](<https://aidr.today/925fd2fb?lang=en>)

**Published:** 2026-09-06T16:42:13.000Z
**Category:** Research
**Topics:** openai, agent, research, automation, infra, benchmark

## Summary

OpenAI's new internal data release showed a P50 time horizon of 4\.7 hours as of July 2026, median daily spending on coding agents of $601\.25 per researcher as of Aug\. 15, and more than $7,000 at the 90th percentile\. OpenAI said it has met its goal of an automated research intern and is making strong progress toward an automated AI researcher by March 2028\. The material was presented as data on models accelerating research at OpenAI\. A separate update on the release said a fully autonomous AI researcher is 18 months away\.

## Sources

- [Story source](<https://huggingnews.com/ai/update-openai-says-it-hit-automated-research-intern-goal-and-targets-aut-eed553ff>)
- [Story source](<https://x.com/SebastienBubeck/status/2096623766185107790>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/AndrewCurran_/status/2096629434732388687>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/btibor91/status/2096617185699401961>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096625029551181876>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096620189794042036>)
- [Supporting source](<https://x.com/scaling01/status/2096620809879957538>)
- [Story source](<https://x.com/peterwildeford/status/2096959672859140112>)