self-improvement

OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki published an article titled "An Alien Mind" on September 6, 2026. The article reviews the results of the RLSlow research project, which emerged in mid-2023, demonstrating the first scalable training of reasoning models. It states that three years later, reasoning language models have become part of rapid economic growth, beginning to push scientific boundaries, capable of operating computers and graphical interfaces, collaborating with humans and other AIs on research projects, while also changing the landscape of computer security and introducing new dangers.The author anticipates that the current pace of progress may continue towards recursive self-improvement based on internal results. If AI development continues along the current path, systems may experience equivalent or greater leaps in capability in the coming years, increasingly driving their own development. The author calls for extreme caution, believing that no one is prepared to deal with the consequences of the rapid rise of machine intelligence. OpenAI will continue to seek technical solutions for alignment and monitoring, build defensive systems, and unilaterally halt further scaling when necessary, but believes broader intervention is needed.The article states that machine intelligence is primarily driven by increased computational power, with AI growing more than being designed. In terms of alignment, it distinguishes between goal alignment and value alignment, with the core challenge being generalization. GPT-6 Astra shows significantly better alignment than GPT-5.6 Sol, but more progress is still needed. In monitoring, the focus is mainly on chain-of-thought monitoring, with assessments showing that reliance on capabilities is gradually weakening. In terms of scalable defense, models are becoming superhuman in breaking into computer systems, currently in a narrow window where using the best available models significantly enhances the security of critical systems.