Insight AI News Flash: OpenAI recently held an Astra closed-door preview at the newly opened MB0 office building in San Francisco, where dozens of key customers' executives were invited. Altman had just returned from Washington, where he had previously held a closed-door briefing on Astra for U.S. officials. Outside the building, there were protesters holding signs demanding the "Stop AI Race," prompting OpenAI to even set up a full green plant wall to shield the protesters outside the glass doors.

The event mainly showcased two capabilities. The first was a research-level math problem, where 16 AI Agents autonomously divided the problem into multiple sub-problems, worked on them separately, coordinated with each other, and finally put together a candidate proof.

The second demonstration involved direct computer manipulation. Astra swiftly switched between multiple common desktop applications, creating and modifying content on its own. Altman said that witnessing its "superhuman-level, very fast" computer operation was one of the most awe-inspiring experiences for OpenAI employees recently. He mentioned that Astra will bring about persistent agents, which are "virtual colleagues" capable of working continuously for long periods.

Astra also met the "AI Research Intern" standard within OpenAI. Present it with an experimental idea, and it can autonomously implement it within OpenAI's codebase, run the experiment, and provide results; give it a research paper, and it can complete work that previously would have taken a human researcher a week.

Altman believes that Astra's most significant capability is discovering new knowledge. In front of these customers, he stated, "I anticipate this will be the first model to genuinely invent something new of meaningful value." He then added, "This is very much like AGI."