OpenAI, Microsoft call AGI pointless but tie it to billion‑dollar deals
When I listened to the latest chat between OpenAI’s leadership, it felt less like a polished plan and more like a bargaining session. Sam Altman, the CEO, and Jakub Pachocki, the chief scientist, both said they hope to have a fully autonomous AI researcher up and running by March 2028. At the same time they warned that the date is still a moving target and that they’ll need to “define what that means” as the work progresses.
All of this is happening while multibillion-dollar deals tie OpenAI’s dreams tightly to Microsoft’s cloud and AI push. The technical checkpoints sound pretty solid, but the real question is how those checkpoints will be described, and priced. That’s why the next line matters: it drags the massive financial weight of the partnership into the same fuzzy definition game.
I’m left wondering if the numbers will stay as they are, or if the definition itself will shift enough to change the whole picture.
Billions ride on shifting definitions A recent exchange between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki shows just how unsettled things remain. Both say they want to develop a fully autonomous AI researcher by March 2028 and explain that they will "define what that means" at that point, rather than try to "satisfy everyone with a definition of AGI." In effect, Altman shifts the debate from an abstract definition to any performance goal he chooses, leaving it deliberately vague whether such a researcher would even count as AGI by OpenAI's own standards. Just a few months earlier, in August, Altman called AGI "not a super useful term", yet it seems like it is still useful enough to anchor multi-billion-dollar deals with Microsoft.
The irony goes further: in a February podcast, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, "For us to attribute some AGI milestone to ourselves, to me that's just nonsensical benchmark hacking." If that's not confusing enough, OpenAI published a blog post in March 2025 that explicitly moves away from the idea of AGI as a single, definable milestone. Now, "the first AGI" is just one point along a continuous path toward more powerful AI. "We used to view the development of AGI as a discontinuous moment when our AI systems would transform from solving toy problems to world-changing ones.
We now view the first AGI as just one point along a series of systems of increasing usefulness." Even so, the latest Microsoft contract ties major financial and intellectual property decisions to a single event: OpenAI "declaring" AGI.
When we talk about an AGI milestone, the very definition still feels fuzzy. OpenAI and Microsoft say they’ll pull together an expert panel once they claim they’ve hit it, but the notice says nothing about what standards the panel will use. No public criteria have been mentioned, and we don’t even know who will sit on that panel.
That makes transparency thin and independent oversight looks missing. Billions of dollars are already riding on how “AGI” gets interpreted - something that popped up in the recent chat between Sam Altman and Jakub Pachocki. They’re aiming for a fully autonomous AI researcher by March 2028 and plan to “define what that means” at that point.
Without solid metrics, the money side raises questions about incentives. The firms could reap contractual and financial rewards, yet it’s unclear whether their self-set roadmap will meet wider industry or societal expectations. In the end, the proposal seems to add more doubt than comfort, and any real impact will hinge on details that haven’t been shared yet.
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Common Questions Answered
What timeline did OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman and Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki set for a fully autonomous AI researcher?
They announced a target of March 2028 to roll out a fully autonomous AI researcher. However, they emphasized that the exact definition of that capability will be clarified at that time, acknowledging the goal is still a moving target.
How are billions of dollars linked to OpenAI's AGI ambitions in the article?
Multibillion‑dollar contracts, particularly with Microsoft, are tied to OpenAI's progress toward AGI. The financial stakes depend on how the term "AGI" is defined and whether the promised autonomous researcher meets the yet‑to‑be‑specified criteria.
What role does an expert panel play in OpenAI's plan to claim AGI achievement?
OpenAI and Microsoft pledged to convene an expert panel once they assert they have reached the AGI milestone. The article notes that no public standards or panel composition have been disclosed, limiting transparency and independent oversight.
Why does the article describe the definition of AGI as a "moving goal‑post"?
Both Altman and Pachocki said they will "define what that means" when the autonomous AI researcher is ready, rather than providing a fixed definition now. This approach shifts the debate from abstract definitions to performance goals that can be adjusted over time.