06/09/2026
AI may soon move from assisting researchers to doing research itself. OpenAI has set an ambitious internal goal: an AI research “intern” by September 2026 and a fully automated AI researcher by March 2028 systems designed to carry out increasingly complex research tasks with far less human intervention. If achieved, this could dramatically accelerate scientific discovery, but it also raises profound questions about the future of researchers, jobs, creativity, verification, and human oversight. The 2028 target is an internal goal, not a guarantee, and OpenAI has acknowledged that it may fail to achieve it. Still, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: the future of research may not simply be AI helping researchers it could be researchers working alongside AI systems capable of conducting substantial parts of the research process themselves. What do you think: Will AI become a researcher, or will human researchers always remain at the center of discovery?.
Source: OpenAI leadership statements reported by TechCrunch and OpenAI’s official research information.