Six milestones for AI automation - by Ajeya Cotra
planned-obsolescence.org · 1,633 words · saved by 3 readers
What can AI do on its own, and how well?
Six milestones for AI automation What can AI do on its own, and how well? Ajeya Cotra Apr 03, 2026 91 46 10 Share The closer you think you are to your “powerful AI” milestone of choice, the more important it becomes to define it precisely. If your timelines are in the few-year range, changing the particular definition of powerful AI can easily double or triple your median forecast. Take my definition of “full automation of AI R&D” from my predictions post earlier this year: [F]or whichever AI company is in the lead [at the relevant point in time], if you fired all its members of technical staf
saved by
related reading
- Self-sufficient AI - by Ajeya Cotra - Planned Obsolescenceplanned-obsolescence.org
- My AI Opinions - by Scott Alexander - Astral Codex Tensubstack.com
- Full automation of AI R&D probably yields a large speed up even without a software-only singularityblog.redwoodresearch.org
- Does AI Progress Have a Speed Limit?—Asteriskasteriskmag.com
- AI Timelines — LessWronglesswrong.com
- II. From AGI to Superintelligence: the Intelligence Explosion - SITUATIONAL AWARENESSsituational-awareness.ai
- Why transformative artificial intelligence is really, really hard to achievethegradient.pub
- The case for multi-decade AI timelinesepochai.substack.com
- Without specific countermeasures, the easiest path to transformative AI likely leads to AI takeover — LessWronglesswrong.com
- What will be left for us to work on?normaltech.ai
- After Automation | Everyevery.to
- Import AI 455: AI systems are about to start building themselves.importai.substack.com