Sam Altman and Jakub Pachocki from OpenAI have announced their ambitious plan to launch ‘Automated AI Research’ by 2028. Pachocki, OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, states that this breakthrough will empower AI models to make independent scientific discoveries and develop new technologies. The company is confident that these advancements are a significant stride towards achieving true autonomous intelligence. While the full realization is still some years off, OpenAI is preparing to roll out ‘Automated AI Research Intern’ tools much sooner, designed to dramatically speed up the research process. Furthermore, Altman confirmed that new AI hardware will be unveiled in the coming years.
OpenAI’s Automated AI Research Release Timeline
During a recent livestream, Altman and Pachocki outlined a comprehensive timeline for their Automated AI Research initiative, positioning it as a crucial step towards achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). OpenAI anticipates launching a fully operational version of the Automated AI Research Intern by September 2026, roughly eleven months from now. The more advanced Automated AI Research tools are slated for release by March 2028. Pachocki emphasized that these ‘intern’ tools are specifically designed to significantly accelerate the overall research process within the AI firm.
OpenAI projects that its Automated AI Research tool will be capable of independently generating research reports across a wide array of subjects. This development represents a major leap towards ‘superintelligence’ and AGI, where AI agents will harness deep learning to autonomously uncover scientific breakthroughs and create innovative new technologies.
The company is also focusing on enhancing ‘test time compute,’ a metric that measures the duration AI models spend processing a query, conducting research, and formulating a response. OpenAI’s Chief Scientist noted that contemporary AI models can handle tasks lasting five seconds, five minutes, or even five hours. He anticipates this capability will progressively expand, reflecting historical trends in AI development, eventually allowing models to tackle complex tasks spanning five months or even five years.
Furthermore, Sam Altman verified that OpenAI is actively developing new hardware devices, which are expected to launch within the next two years. This forthcoming OpenAI hardware aims to provide users with the ability to ‘take AI anywhere’ by seamlessly integrating with ChatGPT.
In comparison, Google’s Gemini AI currently provides a ‘Deep Research’ tool. This feature enables users to input a topic-based prompt, after which the AI agent generates a comprehensive research plan. This plan can then be customized by the user. However, unlike OpenAI’s vision, Deep Research does not possess the capability for autonomous topic research or scientific discovery; it still requires human input to initiate the research process.
PayPal Adopts Agentic Commerce Protocol to Enable Payments on ChatGPT
Leading payment gateway service, PayPal, recently announced its adoption of the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which will enable users to make payments directly within ChatGPT. This ACP standard, initially introduced in September, is OpenAI’s innovative open protocol designed to facilitate AI-powered agentic commerce. It allows businesses, users, and AI chatbots alike to search for products and seamlessly complete purchase transactions.
Essentially, this means users can now complete card payments through PayPal via ChatGPT Instant Checkout. OpenAI already permits ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and free users in the US to buy items directly from the chatbot interface. The company has already integrated Etsy merchants and plans to onboard Shopify sellers such as Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori in the near future.
For the Indian market, OpenAI has collaborated with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and RazorPay to introduce agentic commerce. However, this functionality is still awaiting its rollout to ChatGPT users across the country.